Author: my secret innuendo

can you find stillness and not stiffness?

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Can you find stillness in your life and not stiffness? It is during the most challenging times in life that we test this theory out.  But we can teach ourselves to do it the right way, with softness.

Yoga is a great place to work on this.  Some yoga classes are all about moving fluidly with your watery nature, and like a dance you find your way to a place of balance.  This feels great and can also help us flow better with life, learning to move with what we are dealt and become one with it.

Life, however, deals us chaos and challenge sometimes.  A challenging yoga class can help you mimic this challenge and give you the chance to relax into it and come out ahead of the game with your head on your shoulders.

A serious Ashtanga yoga class can be a place to find stillness and calm.  When the teacher instructs with their voice or their rhythm to be serious, can you allow yourself to find softness in the strength?  This is important, especially in your neck and trapezius muscles that support your neck — a common place to hold tension.  Can you find the perfect balance between expansion and contraction of your muscles so that the end result is soft and still?  If you cannot, your yoga could be harming you.

Can you find this perfect balance in your mind?  In your spirit?  It takes a lot of patience to traverse your oceans of time…

Now, let’s talk about other activities such as surfing.  Surfing requires a lot of focus on paddling and learning how to ride nature’s gem: the ocean.  She is pure fluid.  Can you find the strength in your muscles to protect you, fuel you, and help you get the most enjoyment possible, while still remaining soft and fluid, especially in the back of your neck?

What about sitting at your computer doing a simple physical act of typing, while heavily and emotionally involved in your topic.  Are you able to sit in balance?  What if you are in the physical presence of a person who makes you feel insane?  Are you able to stay balanced, soft and supple?

Are you able to take a step back and feel your tension and then remember that the key lies in softening, not in tension that only feeds anger?  It is easier said than done. But eventually it can be a natural response.

Life is a journey.  Yoga and other mindful activities can be a container for this journey. Having said that, your yoga practice can be a spiritual/psyche container while you are on your mat, and it can be a phenomenal experience at that!  🙂   But ultimately, you CAN take your yoga into your life and really live it and be real with it……

Be real.  It is the answer.  Learn to live your life in stillness, despite chaos.

silence is a source of great strength
~ Lao Tzu ~

© r.e.l. 9/15/10

diving deep into my fears

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I am now facing my fears… going off the edge to find myself in the depth of who I am.  If I am bold enough and I don’t turn back, this action will set me free.

In the dark shadows, I might sail through my depths as if a dream and find the silence I need in order to find the keys I have searched for all my life.  The best stuff is at the very bottom.

More conspicuous and offset against the darkness, the gems and secrets will be easier to see or feel.  Sometimes they will shine with luminosity like a beacon, and they have my name on them!

Maybe the bottom is a bed of soft sand which I can dig my bare feet into and feel rooted in myself like never before.  I can call it the ground of my soul.  To touch this part of me is to release all that I previously imagined was hidden.

It will then transform itself, no longer in the dark, if I invite it to be a part of my waking, conscious being.

Freedom lies in moving into those places that scare us most. We hold those fears not only in our unconscious minds;  they show up in one form or another in our bodies.

I intend to isolate the manifestation of my fears as they disguise themselves and ail me with tension.  Like an instinctual animal would, I will shake it off to get it out of me.

I will not let the ailment which arises define who I am. My blood, or my chi (Chinese medicine), should move freely and uninhibited as it bathes me with its life force.

Yoga and meditation help me.  Yoga nidra is a guided visualization that takes one into the state of “wakeful” deep sleep.  It is a sleep-like state that includes relaxation as well as the psychology of dream, sleep and yoga.  This was a helpful guide to me just today.

© r.e.l. 9/6/10

Inspired by freediver Guillaume Nery and an amazing yoga class I just took today.

in the mirror

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i see myself
blurred
in the mirror

as you gather
my hair together
and wrap it around your wrist
for a moment
i am your p r i s o n e r…

eyes glassy i gaze
at a layering
of all my previous days
and all the time that is coming
and suddenly
i feel as if
i’ve become
invisible…

© r.e.l. 8/26/10

inspired by The Time Traveler’s Wife

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Featured on Freedom in Words & Art on redbubble

your reflection

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see the cage that you built
are you sure which side you’re on
what if all the world you think you knew
were an elaborate dream?

if you look at your reflection
is that all you want to be
if you could look right through
would you find yourself?

you can live in this illusion
you can chose to believe
i see your sadness
your beauty
i go home without it
without you
with a tear
yet to live my life anew
…
it’s ok

r.e.l. 8/17/10

**most words by nine inch nails

Posted for Poetry Potluck 6/5-6/11/11 “Inspired by a Song” on Jingle Poetry

tiger eye

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crystal clear
my mind’s eye

find the eye of my patient heart
and my perfect timing

slow
yet deliberate
i focus now
on you…

as you
change my life
balance me
give me strength
quiet me

as i climb the walls
to my secret
platform in the sky

© r.e.l. 8/15/10

my flame

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flames
have a mind of their own
as they
silently listen
call to you
speak your name
invite you to gaze
into their
burn that
knows your secrets

i am listening now
and i set you on fire
to the beat of your glow
you wish for me
i am here
now blow out your candle
and feel what i say

© r.e.l. 8/4/10

a whispering of words to your soul

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As yoga speaks the poetry of your body, words speak the poetry of your soul. Yoga and words go well together.  Remember that any type of activity can also be a way of living your yoga.

No doubt you are no stranger to a community of poets and those who like to verbally relay their words to others.  Many have a vibrant and active lifestyle to go along with this love of words, don’t they!  The two seem to go together well…

Like the wind off a clear blue lake blows its answers to the mountains, take time to whisper the secrets to your heart, listening to every touch with your sacred ears. Sit and listen as the words write themselves onto the page. There are no mistakes here. It is all a rendition of your truth that you write down to share, so that you can touch… something other than the normal, regular you.

As you move the prana (i.e., your life force) in your body, working through the chakras and experience your purpose in the moment, your desires, your energy and your heart, you will most likely find the words of your soul whispering to you gently.

As you continue moving, whether it be in a yoga practice, a hike, or some other means of moving your body, you eventually can surrender to this energy you’ve activated as it clears out all that gets in the way of knowing your true intuitions and spirit connection. This will probably happen whether you are paying attention or not.  In fact, there is no will required for this endeavor.  Just be who you are.

If you’re really in tune with the feelings moving through you, you can see, hear, sense and know through your watchfulness that it is possible that you actually really know who you are.

Yes, it’s true.  So, don’t refuse to whisper these words. You will undoubtedly touch someone, even unsuspectingly, if not a very important person: you. Even if you only reach one person, besides yourself, this journey through words is all worth it.

And if you find that no words come to you, then receive the gift of the inability to find words. 🙂

Namaste.

© r.e.l. 8/2/10

to say to you

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it will all be ok…
your heart
exposed to the perilous space
which took your breath
led by that which
lures you into the current
you need
love directs your course
you know..

and it is no mistake
that you felt him looking at you
as if looking through
knowing all in an instant
that day
more than once
as if to say to you silently
yet directly
some day you will be mine

© r.e.l. 7/27/10

Posted for Poetry Picnic 8/28-9/3/11 on Gooseberry Garden

 

perfect moment

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perfect
what is perfect?
what does it mean?
perfect feeling in your heart?
perfect smile on the face of the person looking
into you?
perfect song?
perfect candle?
perfect light of the sun shining down upon you?
how about a perfect moment.
that is what i had.
definitely.

© r.e.l. 7/26/10


silence speaks

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Dear heart, sometimes I wonder who I am.  I feel like I’ve never done this before, like I am new to love.  Sometimes I get too nervous as if my vulnerable child is coming out of her shell for the first time. And when I do, I feel like a hummingbird alone in the rain.

A silent moment asks me to breathe in all that I feel and ‘stay with me please’ with eyes looking into me.  The answer is in the presence.  To really feel the present moment with ease is to not worry about anything else but it.  The answer is to not worry about needing to describe it in words, to anyone else or to myself.  Those who share the moment too, will know exactly what I mean anyway.  Silence speaks with a swirling energy between two people anyway, whether they are touching, across a room, or across the world. In that presence, another spirit is born… left to float off into the clouds at sunset but never to stop penetrating the everlasting moment.

© r.e.l. 7/24/10

Photo of Minnesota sunset by Michele Kamenar

Featured in Love Bytes on redbubble


the art of savasana

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The final pose of any decent yoga practice is savasana. It is the place where you reflect upon your entire practice as if it comes before your eyes on a distant cloud.

Some yoga teachers and practitioners believe savasana is the most important pose in yoga, reflecting true peace as the culmination of your practice.

This final resting pose, otherwise known as Corpse Pose, truly is a pose in which to wrap the fruits of your labors or your joys of movement and love for your body.

After moving the precious prana within your body through movements that flow through you, twists that wring out toxins, and peaceful moments in between that take your breath away, savasana is a time to celebrate and smile within in stillness.

It’s a time to celebrate your life force that moves through you, that you may have a tendency to ignore as you move along in your busy day.

To the mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders. ~ Lao-Tzu ~

Savasana does not act alone.  It is the end result of that which came before it.  It is your consciousness in its pure state, which you can see most easily after clearing out impediments in the body, mind and heart, especially with a seasoned teacher who can lead you eloquently through it, in the right vibe.

In this way the meditative state created in the space becomes like a cloud that you can trust and call your own.  As you wind down your practice in a true state of peace, your ending rest has the power to bring you to samadhi, the 8th limb of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali.

Samadhi is a non-dualistic state of consciousness in which you become one with all that surrounds you, and all of your thoughts connected outside of yourself, in which the mind becomes still, concentrated on one point though the person remains conscious.

If you are lucky you will feel bathed in a purple light.  The true art of savasana is to become as if a body floating in the ocean, weightless and free.

Namaste.

© r.e.l. 7/13/10

a stress free life

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Do you wake in the morning and tell yourself that today will be the day that you will really take your health to another level? One idea to ponder is why you would wait. Any moment can be a time to set your intention. You might wait because you are too stressed at the idea of changing.

A healthy life makes you feel great but activities that drive our personalities can interfere with health, some of which feed addictive behaviors, stress, overindulgence or even laziness. Although we all mean well and fully intend to do what our heart tells us to do, is following every inclination at every moment actually following your heart and acting with your best health in mind?

There are many different facets included in health. Those that require motivation for some of you such as diet, exercise and mind-calming activities are part of it, but if you are stressed about the plan you have for yourself or the goal you wish to achieve, then maybe you are going about it in the wrong way for you.

If your plan is to drastically cut out all of the poison in your life all at once, and trade it for regimented goodness, and this makes you crazy in your mind, then perhaps there is a better solution for you.

We are talking about your body, mind, heart and spirit. A plan for health needs to include each or else a part of you will attack the plan, so to say, and never start, or fulfill a part of it while another part becomes detrimental to your health.

Stress can eat away at your insides and definitely shows on the outside, so you can’t hide from it and you can’t hide it from others. What is most important is your internal appearance, which if nurtured, reflects to your whole being.

How about starting out slowly to come to terms with what will truly work for you. Spend a day alone dedicated completely to yourself simply to form your plan.

  • Drink a lot of water to hydrate and cleanse your system removing toxins.
  • Alkalinize a stressed body by nurturing yourself with foods that will increase your acidic pH such as lemon in your water, avocado, grapefruit and most greens to name a few.  This will leave you with more vibrancy and mental clarity.
  • Try to move slowly through your day paying attention to your feet on the ground as you move — preferably barefooted.
  • Yoga, pranayama breathing, meditation and music can assist you greatly in your effort.
  • Go for a walk along the beach and listen to the ocean waves soothe your soul and perhaps give you answers.

Slowly without trying you will find yourself formulating the formula for your stress free life. Keep a journal handy and write down whatever inspires you. If you’re lucky you’ll end the day with a wise mantra, a list or even a heart-opening poem. Without even knowing it you’ll probably feel a connection with your spirit and life force.

At this point, you will know what you need to do, and will do it with ease in a way which supports your life customized to you.

One final hint: don’t tell anyone your grand plan. You are doing this for yourself, not for anyone else 🙂  Others will notice the new you emanating from the old you in no time…

Namaste.

© r.e.l. 7/10/10