Be

While finishing our meal @ the melting pot a random couple stopped at our table and left us with a $20 dollar gift card. Wow that was very nice of them. I love spontaneous acts of of giving. Just makes you have hope in community

THINKERS ANONYMOUS "Friend, is thinking ruining your life?"

It started out innocently enough. I began to think at parties now and then to loosen up. Inevitably, though, one thought led to another and soon I was more than just a social thinker.
I began to think alone—"to relax," I told myself—but I knew it wasn’t true. I was thinking all the time. I began to think on the job. I knew that thinking and employment don’t mix, but I couldn’t stop myself.
I began to avoid friends at lunchtime so I could read Thoreau and Kafka. I would return to the office dizzied and confused, asking, "What is it exactly we are doing here?"
Things weren’t going so great at home, either. One evening I had turned off the TV and asked my wife about the meaning of life. She spent that night at her mother’s.
I soon had a reputation as a heavy thinker. One day the boss called me in. He said, "Skippy, I like you, and it hurts me to say this, but your thinking has become a real problem. If you don’t stop thinking on the job, you’ll have to find another job." This gave me a lot to think about.
I came home early after my conversation with the boss. "Honey," I confessed, "I’ve been thinking…" "I know you’ve been thinking," she said, "and I want a divorce!" "But, honey, surely it’s not that serious!" "It IS serious," she said, lower lip aquiver. "You think as much as a college professor, and college professors don’t make any money, so if you keep on thinking we won’t have any money!"
"That’s a faulty syllogism," I said impatiently, and she began to cry. I’d had enough. "I’m going to the library!" I snarled as I stomped out the door. I headed for the library, in the mood for some Nietzsche, with a PBS station on the radio. I roared into the parking lot and ran up to the big glass doors….but they didn’t open. The library was closed.
To this day, I believe that a Higher Power was looking out for me that night. As I sank to the ground clawing at the unfeeling glass, simpering for Zarathustra, a poster caught my eye: ‘Friend, is heavy thinking ruining your life?’ it asked. You probably recognize that line. It comes from the standard Thinkers Anonymous poster. It is responsible for what I am today—a recovering thinker. I never miss a TA meeting. At each meeting we watch a non-educational video; last week it was "Porky’s." Then we share experiences about how we avoided thinking since the last meeting. I still have my job, and things are a lot better at home. Life just seemed…easier, somehow, as soon as I stopped thinking.
Anonymous Thinker.

HOLSTEE - Holstee Manifesto Poster

HOLSTEE - Holstee Manifesto Poster

Merry Happy Joy

Please practice mercy and forgiveness there is enough greed and hate in the world. Stop and think twice before you put someone down or brush them off like they have no meaning. Love to the point that you don't care how or what others in your circle of life think about you. Give to the point that it is natural for you just like breathing. Be still and realize you are not the center of your world feel the higher spiritual power around you and treat others like they are at the center of your attention. Go forth and be Merry during this holiday season and don't waste on second worrying about whether or not someone says Christmas. Jesus doesn't care if you bring meaning to this day. Christ solely cares about you and the state of your being. Peace be with you all and remember to do no violence to others especially yourself.

Made for Men but practiced by Women. What?

The scuttlebutt is and I've heard it a few of times. "Trust me" I am no authority on this. But! Yoga was made for a Man's body and not a Woman's. That's why a woman doesn't align the same way as a man in a pose. I repeat What?

This statement usually comes across like this. Yoga was practiced "Made for" by men who only taught other males as a monastic life for the preparation of meditation. (True) Then (this part is added.)  Women "in general" can't align their hips the same because they are "made" different. Sounds true? But What?

There really are enough topics out there that divide the girls from the boys. This doesn't need to be one of them. I don't know where the origin of this tidbit of information started, but I do know that I have heard it said by teachers I respect and trust and I have read it on a blog or two. I know I know I know we've all seen the video of some yogi stepping and pulling on his student's body to get the student into the twisted shape desired. Well???? Is this not what correct alignment is?

Yoga for the most part here in the grand Old' US of A is gaining in popularity. "Duh" There are many who are coming to the practice at "we will just say" an elevated age. In other words allot of us are all grown up and our bones are shaped and formed in the alignment they were designed to be in.

It didn't take my small mind to realize this. There are great teachers out there who have studied the anatomy and have this stuff all figured out. So why even bother writing about this? Me I'm hoping, even if it's just in my small corner of the yoga world, to help others understand that a yoga pose is a yoga pose and its goanna land where it's going to land.

There are many who are new to yoga and some that have been around for awhile and we want to be reassured. About what you may ask? That we are doing it right! Because I don't look like that person over there. You know the one. Yes that one the ninja yogi who is flipping and jumping and bending and I didn't know that you could put your foot there!

If your bones are short, long, large, small, backwards, or lopsided. They are your bones and the pose is your pose. If you are not hyper flexible and your bones touch sooner rather than later. You're not going to look like your neighbor beside you. It doesn't matter. Let me repeat that! Forget about it, "IT DOESN'T MATTER!" Our bones may "unite" compress sooner depending on your build.

Yes to do yoga is to unite breath with body with mind or spirit. What matters is that you work on breathing moving and getting stronger. You will relieve muscle tension and maybe even some life tension. You will get stronger. You will gain more confidence. When we learn to focus on our breath and our body we will find what works best for us in a pose. You don't have to compare yourself with someone else. If you are then ask yourself why? Is it body issues? A feeling of "I'm not as good as them". Why torture yourself like that? There are some bad ass tools out there like a strap a block or the assistance of an experienced teacher who knows about the body and is not trying to get you to conform to their idea of what a pose is supposed to look like. Become familiar with and use them your body will thank you for it.

Within

What is scared is within you.
What is precious resides inside you.
True beauty envelops you.
Truth is written in the halls of your heart.
Balance comes from the in and out of your breath.
Take pause within this moment and realize this is real for everyone around you.
Now go and share the love you generate.

Cancer

Cancer sucks and I'm one of the lucky ones. today I am celebrating being five years cancer free after my colon resection. However, the fight for many others goes on. Last year I lost a friend, this next year I'll loose a Uncle. So on goes the battle for life. Pray for and comfort those who have cancer and never forget those we've lost.

Point Arena Light House

Chandelier drive through tree

Pacific Ocean

Cable car

YouTube - As I Lay Dying "Parallels" (OFFICIAL VIDEO)

YouTube - As I Lay Dying "Parallels" (OFFICIAL VIDEO): "http://youtu.be/nLd6h5td8G4"

SHADOW PETALS

Looking out of my window I see, the rose blooming from a seed.

Straight she shoots this way and that.

Ever so closed from the storms as they pass.

So tightly she is bundled so closed from me.

So brave yet so shy she wants to be free!

Awaken my rose come and see as flowers in the field dance with glee.

Emerging with petals unfolding.

She shows her beauty and strength.

Then the gardener appears to clip her friends away.

Ever bearing her thorns to protect her soul, the wounded gardener bleeds.

Forgive me dear rose for you see the rose is special to me.

It brings warmth and love and takes away the misery.

I know that roses bloom in the fall of their lives as they come to full maturity.

Their pedals wither and fade as they gently fall free.

Then new roses bloom in place of these to weather the storms in life we see.

As the sun fades shadow petals is all I see.