Lilacs in Winter ~ January 2016

Lilacs in Winter 2016 New Year’s Day

This photo was snapped at the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens in Spring. The smell of lilac intoxicates the senses, propels us in time and space through our mind to where?  Never mind 74 degree weather in New York on Christmas Eve. Here and now is where we are!

How do we rest in our own true nature and deal with the vicissitudes of daily life falling short of expectations? Ah, there’s the rub.  The space in between is where we cultivate our living, our living here and now.  What exactly does that mean if not the ability to unknot each moment of paradox.

Heart-Mind-Body works together aligned, in truth, if we allow all channels to be open. Listen with the whole body to the subtle unspoken messages that arise when the mind is quiet enough to settle down its chatter.  Yes, meditation helps with this, some practice on the cushion creates enhanced ability off the cushion.  Space in the body; yes, exercise helps with this. Some aerobics, yoga, or practice of simple stretching.  Space in the heart; how do you tap your innate and great source of kindness, empathy, compassion and joy? Share an experience, turn to art!  Space in the mind; we need to take a break from busy; join nature. All this allows relaxation; Detendu.  

All you need is a full stop. Connect with your breath. Feel yourself alive in your skin. Yes, right now.  Whether you like that experience, or not, are familiar with the ability, notion, or practice of taking a pause, begin.  Feel the air as you breathe, the movement associated with breathing, the air on your skin, see the shapes and forms, listen deeply all the way through the sounds arising, listen from the silence where they arise from.

The only relationship that matters, truly, is the one you have with yourself. The in between is where to unknot, detendu, pause, reflect, live here and now, in the paradox of the moment. That space opens as a creative response, with a question, an answer, insight or decision. Find out.

Smell the lilacs in winter.

the AUGUST event

This August focus is performance, auditioning and putting up my own work.

“Brave” and “Courageous” – it was said, “Especially, putting up autobiographical material.”

There you have it. Turning life into art as we all do to share our hearts and bare our souls for the love of sharing alone, and the gift of the experience.

It takes as long as it takes to mature into oneself, though does that ever really end? I suppose it must with death, then, again, do we really know?

The work, to stay in process, engage, discover, explore and focus has been du rigor. Finally,  blinders on, the discovery is what I’ve had before, may have always known, yet, its taken as long as this to return. Full circle.

The find? An inner snap shot of a best happy time in my element lying on the living room carpet listening to my record player for hours and hours and hours and hours. Mary Martin as Peter Pan, Cyril Richard as Captain Hook.

At Book Culture’s new store on Columbus Avenue where we paid a recent visit, I purchased The Centennial Annotated Edition of J.M. Barrie’s beloved Peter Pan.

Reading the introduction this quote astonished me:

“When Hook demands to know who Peter Pan is, the boy answers quickly: ‘I’m youth, I’m joy.. ..I’m a little bird that has broken out of the egg.’ Mobile and nomadic, Peter Pan is truly all things—all things to everyone. And yet he is also, as the stage directions indicate, never “touched” by anyone else. In short, he is self-contained and so determined to resist connection that he comes to embody what the narrator describes as “heartlessness,” a trait he shares with all children. He is not simply Pan but also Adonis and Narcissus — all those mythic figures, renowned for their beauty, who refuse to grow up, mature and develop emotional attachments. And, as importantly, he is, precisely because he remains eternally young, a grim reminder that the rest of us must all grow up and one day die.”

What do I want to shout from a megaphone?

My Grandmother had an expression she’d say to me as a little girl. She stood by observing my frenetic movement, gyrations, both feet moving, hands waving, call it a dance of sorts. Notably I was moving and talking at the same time. I felt her presence next to me, her strength and height; I heard her but was too distracted to look up at her.

“Foots-foots,” she’d say.

Her expression, ‘foots-foots’ for my behavior meant what exactly? I never got to ask her because I lost her before I knew to ask. It’s been my riddle to solve.

A small body with a lot of energy moves a great deal in this case. Dance was my first love, maybe yours too.  I asked for ballet slippers as young as possible. Life is movement. I knew that. Sitting still was never easy.

Often I would rush through things that were difficult as if moving quickly to the finish I could jump over the part that made me uncomfortable. To speed by, get to the end, for this girl born in the year of the rabbit, was natural, easy, and preferred. Being fast meant you win.

“Foots-foots,” she’d say. Did I make a mistake?

A natural hare, meets the tortoise alive and well inside myself.

Learn along the way was my way to learn to sit still. Meditating in the early years my body often felt –on the inside– like a bag of popcorn popping. How did I learn to tolerate all that sensation without moving? No ‘foots-foots.’

After lots of practice, then more practice. Practice after practice, remembering to practice and then to actually practice. I have come to appreciate the wisdom of my grandmother’s words.

What do I want to shout out of a megaphone?

What my grandmother was telling me.

“Slow down.”

By the sea

 

Basic ABC

Le Jardin du Luxembourg, Paris, France (c) shainer 1992

ABC to the first, second and third power:

ABC align breath connect in any posture every moment all the time.

ABC authentic being brings catharsis

ABC Ask, be brave and curious

Gravity works. Rest, assured, in your bones, allow muscle to lengthen, twitch less. Work as required as needed rather than clenched, and clench more.

The body as an ear, listens through air and bone conduction. Isn’t that why a scratch on the blackboard with a finger nail sends shrill chills, edgy, annoying, nearly painful? Give me a good percussive beat, to tap my feet, celebrate a thumping heart.

Alignment of long bones that bend at joints makes walking, sitting, standing and laying down, our basic four postures. Yeah! Do it. Stand. Sit. Lay supine. Walk.

Our breath is ours. Implicit with life. Our life force that comes and goes in necessary amounts, granted for our bodies’ use, nourishment of gaseous exchange to fuel ourselves on the human plane.

We are always connected. Thankfully our breath need not be attended to in order to remain obedient to our life. Go ahead hold your breath. Turn blue. Gasp!

Align, breath and connect is happening with or without your attention. What happens when you give notice, observe and feel yourself awake and alive inside your living process? Drop down from the castle between your ears, experience into the body, “in this very fathom- long body.”

Rich with information, connection to our experience holds the KEY (kinetic energy experience that you say yes to) to locks  and switches of  holding, tension, contraction and limit.

More than a concept, these ABC tools, practical, easy and innate, restore well-being as you go, on the go, everywhere, all the time and now.  You have everything you need to begin, you are the equipment, you are the experiment, you are the experience.

Place your hand on your heart.  Feel your hand rest on your chest. Hand rises and falls with your breath. Quiet down. Feel the pulse in your palm, the beat in your chest. Feel your heart through your hand. Align, Breath, Connect to authentic being which brings catharsis. Feel yourself relax. Ask, be brave and curious.

How is life right now?

Dross into Gold

Build-a-Banquet began last night at Intersections International.  A thoroughly satisfying evening was had by all. My whole body is relaxed, heart open,  as I spin my own dross into gold, I am stunned!

How do you, after all is said and done about personal growth, enlightenment, and striving to be better, a better human being, how do you actually know when it happens? How to enjoy the fullness of feeling life alive inside your very own body-mind-heart? How to unclench?

What is in your nature to discover?

That discovery leads the way to the depths of your experience, limitless, completely uncharted, except for the part you know — those habits and patterns of behavior and being in the world with yourself and others that may be running on automatic pilot.  Plunge below the surface, get under the radar, catch the wave, good vibrations, and consider a little space, the space of the ‘in-between’ where awe and wonder ‘spark’ into being.

ABC to the first, second and third power:

ABC align breath connect in any posture every moment all the time.

ABC authentic being brings catharsis

ABC Ask, be brave and curious

You know that ancient saying, “A journey of a million miles starts with a single step.” My father used to say to me. We’d smile our hearts as one. I feel him now.  That love in the heart from the heart being heart – wide open and free to feel – yes, that is the journey we are on.

Build-a-Banquet begins, manifestation of my heart, turning the dross of my life into gold right before my very eyes, through my pores, in my breath, it’s believable because it is happening.  “Show me the evidence,” as Lily Tomlin would say.

“Ah! Life it takes up all my time!”