Since I came back from my Silence retreat in the blue ridge mountains of Boone NC, I has been enjoying driving in silence.
We get so used to "multi-tasking" that we can't stand doing one thing at a time. For instance, when we drive, we have to be listening to something - if NPR is on pledge drive, we switch to a music station; if the music station is on commercial, we switch to CD. When we read or run, we put on our headsets.
I used to think highly of anyone who listened to NPR, and became a loyal listener myself. But stop listening to NPR keeps me a peace of mind, and I believe ignorant is bliss. It helps to stop being anxious about current events and politics.
Bye bye NPR. Thanks for freeing up some space in my mind.
Saturday, September 1, 2012
Life is good
.JPG)
I slept in and did my morning Kriya right after morning coffee. I didn't do much house chores, and the the family went over the hill to the sunny peninsula. We hang out around the bay, where the dogs ran, swam and rolled in the sand to their hearts' content. We chatted with friends, then we ran our errands. We had a good home-made dinner, watched an old movie and the Big Bang Theory.
It's so nice to be able to spend time with the family on weekends!
Poppies
When my friend Anne came to stay with us in June, we planted lavenders, jasmines, and other colorful flowers in the yard. She also sowed poppy seeds and replanted the tiny ice plants. She said it's probably too late in the season for the poppy seeds to grow, and we didn't think too much about it. It was just a great way to spend time together and for me to learn about gardening. By the way, I am a hopeless black thumb.
Over the few months, most of the colorful flowers except for the lavenders got dig up by the resident rodents, but surprisingly, some poppy plants were peaking out of the soil! Everyday I walk pass the yard, I couldn't help but appreciate the simplicity of life and power of the ecosystem. You sow the seeds, provide some water, and the Sun will help the plants grow. Our ice plans are growing 3 times bigger too!
Life on earth is such a miracle.
This is the 100th post, yippee!
Work
Do you notice that when you work a lot, you can't stop working?
Do you notice when you are working on something interesting, you don't feel that it is work?
Do you notice when you are working on something interesting, you don't feel that it is work?
Already September?
Wow, it's September 1st today. I have mixed feelings about this September 1st. August seemed to be too long. Last month I was way too busy at work, like every other summer. Yet I managed to fit in a 4 week yoga workshop with my favorite Yoga teacher on every Monday, and a weekend Chakra yoga retreat at Stillheart.
On the other hand, there are only 4 months left for the year of 2012!
On the other hand, there are only 4 months left for the year of 2012!
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
The matters of right and wrong, good and bad
We almost always get caught up in the right and wrong. It is hard to for us to look at something without applying certain kind of judgement, analysis and comparison. This inevitably leads to competition, troubled minds and disappointment.
It's like the moment we open our eyes in the morning, our minds start to ponder about the truth of the world, and planning for success. This is how the world operates, so it's just a force of nature for us to pick up this habit.
Right and wrong boil down to what works for the person himself. If he is doing the right thing, then great, but if he is doing the wrong thing, but incapable of doing the right thing at the time, then what can he do? Shoot himself or someone else? I don't think so. It's better just for him to give himself some time and space to be happy with who he is, and he will grow and learn over time.
When I was doing my Chakra yoga retreat during the last weekend, there were times I felt my mind wondering. Not too far, just in, around and outside of the yoga studio. For example, there were times when I was thinking about the person in front of me, whose Pilates mat not being suitable for practicing yoga, because it's not sticky. Other times I was worrying about the perfection of my posture and checking out other peoples'. When the mind wonders, I lost my balance.
How could I focus on my own yoga practice? I think this will take me some time and more experience. For now, I will just be who I am, do what I can and hope for the best.
It's like the moment we open our eyes in the morning, our minds start to ponder about the truth of the world, and planning for success. This is how the world operates, so it's just a force of nature for us to pick up this habit.
Right and wrong boil down to what works for the person himself. If he is doing the right thing, then great, but if he is doing the wrong thing, but incapable of doing the right thing at the time, then what can he do? Shoot himself or someone else? I don't think so. It's better just for him to give himself some time and space to be happy with who he is, and he will grow and learn over time.
When I was doing my Chakra yoga retreat during the last weekend, there were times I felt my mind wondering. Not too far, just in, around and outside of the yoga studio. For example, there were times when I was thinking about the person in front of me, whose Pilates mat not being suitable for practicing yoga, because it's not sticky. Other times I was worrying about the perfection of my posture and checking out other peoples'. When the mind wonders, I lost my balance.
How could I focus on my own yoga practice? I think this will take me some time and more experience. For now, I will just be who I am, do what I can and hope for the best.
Chakra workshop at Stillheart
- I like the fact that you emphasize on personal experience, and warn us not to be restricted by what was written in books, which are totally experiences written by other people.
Activities like Yoga and meditation is a personal journey. No two people's experience is the same. So teaching such a topic is so abstract, and it could be challenging.
Thank you for demystifying the Chakras, and allowing us to discover our own path and our fire within.
Photograph curtsey of Ms. Peiying Mo.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)