YOGAHEART

If you’re wondering where the photos at the top of this website are from, they have all been taken during my daily walks with my dog Bodhi. We’ve hardly missed a day to spend time outdoors in some way. He needs it, and so do I. We savour the air, the movement, all of the expressions of life and landscape, and the beauty of sounds…  If my to-do list gets too long, it seems to overlap with this much needed practice, so I try not to take on too much, since our walks are so important.

There is something about ‘Nature’ that reminds us of ourselves in a deeper way.

It’s easy to miss that this might be happening, as we might “chalk it up” to fresh air and beautiful surroundings, but something more profound might be at play. At this very moment, no matter how busy we may be… there is an aspect of ourselves that is as still as the trees and the rocks. No matter how technologically advanced we are,  there is an aspect of ourselves right here and now that is as old and forever as the ancestors of the dragonflies.

While we go about our daily lives, we do so with the aspect of ourselves that is always Just Here. A quiet presence in which everything, including our busy minds arises in. I was shocked and relieved when I realized that in reality, I had never ever missed a thing. I was always here, even when my mind wasn’t. That part, that’s the part that is reflected in the trees. That’s the part of ourselves we can see looking out over the ocean with its seeming infinity of wavelike beauty. This aspect of ourselves connects and sees itself in and as the vast, open, accommodating sky.

At first glance, we may just feel good when we immerse ourselves in what we find beautiful. With prolonged appreciation and openness, we can find our true self in it.

This is where the photos come from. I hope you enjoy. Do you see yourself in the beauty of the world around you? If this is new to you, would you be willing to try?
Love, Mandee

The moment is fresh. The moment is free. To think we are experiencing the moment itself, even mindfully, is to miss something very important… for the most part we are experiencing our thoughts.

I met someone last week who showed me a house I could rent. Such a beautiful house, in such a beautiful place, on such a beautiful day. She is currently in transition moving closer to town, and her house is for sale. In the meantime I could live there. During our visit we got to know each other as she proudly led me across the property she lovingly tended the last 23 years. I couldn’t help but gather during our visit that this was the story we all get to tell at some point of aging and change, as I refrained from helping her up the sloping garden terraces that her feet knew so well.

I watched my mind begin to spin out a story of loss, and less. Maybe a habit. Maybe I’ve learned to think that way. Maybe I have beliefs about life that make me think like this… but when I noticed it was my thoughts and not the truth of the situation there was room for something else. I started to notice that our aging bodies are not a sign of loss, even if that happens, but a sign of a full life, fully lived. And this is true no matter what our lives have contained. In French we say, “I have 39 years,” not “I am 39 years old.” Age is a sign of the richness of the gift of life. Whether we get to experience that completely depends on the stories we tell ourselves. I noticed that this was an example of the freshness, peace, and beauty available in the every moment. That when we recognize that our experience is not of situations themselves, but of habits of thought, we begin to free life from what we make of it, and thereby free ourselves.

Yoga & Meditation helps us to practice this step back from what we think. The Tuesday night classes have been such a joyous pleasure to offer. There are 3 evenings left before the September schedule begins. Do pop in if you are so inspired. If $ is a barrier, just let me know and we can find a way that works for you. These classes are offered in freshness, with freshness, to freshness.

namaste’
Mandee

Each moment, each breath.
Could it be that simple?

This moment…   saying Yes or saying No?

Stopping. Thoughts dissolving.
Each breath, a homecoming.

What is this without a word?
Without a thought?

Aum!

Yogaaaahhhh!

In this time and all times, in this culture and all cultures, variations of the sound ‘Ma’ have represented the energy of Mother. This curiously reveals something fundamental not only in the sound, but in it’s essence that touches all life on earth deeply.

Just as we were all born from a mother into the physical world, into our individual families…  we were also born, into physical existence, into our bigger family of humans, birds, other animals, plants, insects, and trees.  We all draw upon the nourishing love and gifts of Mother Earth for our health and wellbeing.

Much of yoga involves expanding our awareness from the individual to the wider view. This Mother’s Day, perhaps you might want to chant to the great Mother of us all, which includes all the mothers, and express your love and gratitude with the Sanskrit words, ‘Jai Ma!’

namaste’
Mandee

May we walk in the light of full awareness and gratitude of the gifts of Mother Earth… from the pebbles to the emeralds, from the oceans to the sky. Thank you Great Mother for the unconditional love that surrounds us always.