My Teacher, Zac Joe Doodle

Both willful and surrendered actions seem to exist on a spectrum; on one end, there is the will run amuck, our wild pursuing what we think we want and believe we need. Without attuning to the universe’s signals, we are paddling our little canoe against the current of life, no matter the cost to ourselves or to the people and things around us. At the other end of the spectrum exists the right use of will. How can we best align our actions with the flow of positive life energy with which we partner? Every iteration of willful action and experience lie between these two points.

Yogic living has powerful insight into the skillful use of will. The practice of passionate non-attachment, the taking of action coupled with (here’s the hard part) letting go of the results of those actions—that’s the key to masterful living. Mindfulness practices call us into the world and into action in that world. Life does require us to partner, to work in hand with the universe, in order to move forward.

Surrendered actions can be considered as existing on a spectrum, too. On one side, perhaps, there would be resignation, the throwing in of the old proverbial towel of life. On the other end exists, as we say in Twelve Steps, surrender as getting on the winning side of reality. Just like yoga on the mat, as we surrender into the experiences off the mat as they unfold, as we cooperate with the moment, transmutation unfolds. As we relax into what is, it comes and it goes with so much more ease.

How can you practice mindful discernment to strengthen your conscious use of will and surrender? Having a body-centered practice teaches us physically to sense, to feel, and to cooperate with reality. An on-the-mat yoga practice gives us the mindful choice to willfully bring tension into your body, and to then practice surrendering into and through that very tension. The power of that practice, on so many levels, is profound. Any physical, embodied practice will get us aware of the energetic differences of will and surrender. Practice lives in the body. Motion is the lotion of growth.

Another clue to practice; if you are a Type A personality, your growth probably lies in relaxing just a little more. Ayurveda teaches us that like plus like equals imbalance. For example, Ms. or Mr. Type A, you do not have to do Type A yoga. You already have that in your life. Doing a gentler practice, perhaps even restorative yoga, could be helpful. Like plus unlike equals balance. If you are laid back, focusing on your more willful actions could be the key to your growth.

The mind practices discerning the right use of will and surrender. The body feels the differences. The heart is a source of deep knowing and vast healing.

Here are some questions for your heart. Consider:

• What is the arena in your life in which your will runs amuck? Where do you struggle the most?

• What would it look like to surrender just a little bit in this arena? Be specific.

• Do you have an intention, a prayer, or a blessing for yourself? Offer that blessing to yourself—take it onto the mat and into your day. Walk and move and live your prayers.

Dear Folks, remember, permission to be human, permission to practice and find our way—that is the blessings of practice. Consider yourself blessed! And please keep me posted—what does this inquiry bring up for you? What are you noticing? How do you lean toward a growing skillfulness? What would that look like for you. You can reach me at aruni@rnetworx.com

Blessings to all—
Aruni

Buzzie and Me, 1992

For me, it doesn’t get any better than early springtime. Out of the bleak beauty of winter, the drab earth and the hardened soil, life arises from its slumber. Flowering trees, celebrating birds, softening temperatures, with great mystery, it all changes. So reassuring, so rewarding, so remarkable, the world around us becomes different; emerald green now blankets my yard. The initial spring rush of visual astonishment will be replaced soon enough by more habitual eyes. But for now, a feast for the eyes and heart it surely is.

The best of the spring-tide changes for me lives in the return of the birds. From the silence of winter, we now descend into a cacophony of birdsong. The birds lighten me up like nothing else, perhaps because of my rich avian experiences in childhood and adulthood.

Birds do live deeply in me. The parakeets of my childhood brought solace and companionship; Buzz the Cockatiel of my adulthood gifted me with relationship deep and true, showing me my capacity to nourish and to love another. The influx of spring sensory deliciousness returns me back to that deep internal knowing—the feel of a bird against my face, its tiny clawed feet on my shoulder. The renewal offered us in spring, in itself beyond-remarkable, also washes over me with ancient avian memories, held so snugly inside my heart.

Here is a twenty-eight second video of the wetlands behind my house, place of great bird celebration. I hope you can both hear and see the joyful commotion, the full aliveness these bird visitors bring to our neighborhood. Listening to them makes me beyond- happy.

What have you notice in your world of springtime? Both current—this morning—or decades ago, what are the memories, the visuals, the awakenings in you that blow open your heart this time of year? All experiences welcomed—all responses sacred. I love hearing from you. My email is aruni@rnetworx.com. Let’s share the mystery.

In gratitude,
Aruni

Lucy Doodle, 2002

To be found by our souls, to be connected, reconnected, and connected again to that whoosh of silent, flowing energy, to be returned and renewed by source, these are the gifts of awe-filled moments. Quieting the chatty, gossiping mind prepares us to lean in the direction of grace. We are not the ones to create the awe; we, mere humans, simply create the circumstances in which the awe is revealed. Our practice is to be there, to notice and to participate.

How do we create the circumstances for awe to emerge? I have a humble, perfectly imperfect meditation practice. I walk my mantra; I pray in my body. Nevertheless I am often elsewhere when the Glory lands on my shoulder, where the woodpecker calls my name, when the red-winged blackbird winks at me. My practice is that of returning.
Here is my list, in no order of importance, of a smattering of the multitude of awe-filled memories that live in my heart and my body:

• Watching the Blond Bombshell, Lucy Doodle the 12-week old puppy, come out of her crate at the airport, having flown from Minnesota on her own, ready to fully disrupt and rebuild my life, my heart exploding with giddy joy

• Walking into the room filled with cheering friends and family, post guru-falling-from-grace, preparing to be married, Ras and I the first same-sex couple in Kripalu’s history to do so, holding that miraculous community healing for all of us in my trembling body

• Feeling my mother’s last breath, watching myself taking the next one without her, for the first time in my then fifty-nine years of life; in this excruciating and exquisite moment, I have never been so fully alive

I could continue—the list is surely massive. But now I turn toward you, dear reader. What moments have shut down your brain and whooshed open your heart? What were the images, the interruptions to the habitual, the reunion with grace with which you have been blessed? Please share your awe-filled moments—here I am, aruni@rnetworx.com.

How easy it is to not look, to keep our eyes planted on the earth and on the habitual. How easy it is to forget our connect to the Divine, that energy that throbs and fills every breath. Let’s remember, just for this moment, the preciousness of our place in this sacred moment.

All blessings,
Aruni

Blessed by Fake Wine

Clustered around a glorious full moon, this auspicious week weaves together the sacred rites of Passover and of Holy Week. It is a week of recounting and remembering, of tracking ancient holy events and drawing their relevancy into our lives today, right here and right now. What can we glean from the Israelites’ escape from slavery in Egypt, and from Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection? What lessons do these events offer us? How can we use them as a compass, to continue to guide ourselves mindfully forward in this complex and changing world?

Clearly I am not a scholar of the Old or New Testaments. I am simply a sober Jewish yogi who has been blessed with a multitude of opportunities to continue growing. From the lens of mindfulness, let’s consider the gifts of this holy week.

The exodus story rings with relevance—as the Jewish people found their way through suffering and slavery in Egypt, the way out of bondage was through it. Yoga tells us, too, that we must keep proceeding forward, relaxing into the current moment, through the samskara, the internalized energy cyst. These external life events and our internal feelings about them are the doorway home to integration and to freedom. As we find our way through our individual red sea, even the greatest of traumas can transmute from post-traumatic stress to post-traumatic growth. As we outlive our suffering, we are blessing; more of our authentic selves emerge.

Jesus of Nazareth, tried for his crimes against the Roman state, had the most severe of punishments. Nevertheless, despite his ultimate suffering and his cruxification, he rose from the dead to become the central figure in Christianity. This Easter Sunday celebrates his resurrection, on the third day after his burial by the Romans at Calvary in 30 AD. From his death came new life, spirituality, and possibility for multitudes of people through the centuries.

Endings merge into new beginnings. Springtime abounds around us, harbinger of new growth both outside of us and within. Here is a simple meditation for your heart:

Breathe and relax. Settle into your chair. Let your eyes be soft. Feel the air on your hands, on your face. Allow the breath to return you to this precious moment.

Consider, from inside, out—

In your current life moment, what endings have you outlived?

Just notice. Watch the breath as it softly bathes you in presence.

What new beginnings are emerging in your springtime, as the days warm, as the earth softens, as the birds celebrate their return?

Wrap yourself up in the blessings of this auspicious week. Drawing upon the spiritual legacy of our ancestors, may we see our growth and our healing both reflected and magnified in their journeys. Together let us move through the unending and inevitable red seas. As they part, may we find ourselves even more whole, more authentic, and more complete.

 

Happy holidays to all. Happy, happy springtime.
All blessings,
Aruni