Good Mornng, Sun

Hello life.

Hello breath.

Hello Earth.

Hello awareness.

Is it time yet to smile?

Yes, a feeling of smile
is coming up now.

Good.

The Day and our Awakening

the sun is shining
a sweet little nuclear
fushion
reactor
conveniently placed 93 million miles
away

a source
of warm
and growing the food
and lighting
our days

the sun
seems
pretty good

and
of course
we are messing with the atmosphere
so various waters are melting,
and it's getting hotter,

still
the sun is good

where
is the
sun
inside of us
shining
a light toward
the world
and filling our
inner being

somewhere
somewhere
in there
brilliance
glory
waiting
waiting
for us
to wake
to its brilliance
to our brilliance

yes

21 Wonderful Possibilities

1. Happiness

2. Health

3. Waking up to Now

4. Weight Loss

5. Fitness Up

6. More connection to Nature

7. Better garden, land use

8. Transformation of Pain: mental

9. Transformation of Pain: physical

10. Transformation of Pain: emotional

11. Transformation of Pain: spiritual

12. Spiritual yoga

13. Meditation

14. Now based stress reduction

15. Enhancement of skills: sports, yoga
music, dance, golf, skiing, walking, sex, sitting,
standing up

16. Humor

17. Relationship improvement

18. Moving as we did when we were younger

19. Better posture, breathing, thinking, learning,
creativity

20. Peace of Mind

21. Happiness Now

Want help with any
or all
of the above?

Give a call:
707-996-1437

Ciao,
Chris

Happiness Now, 2

This is a mallow plant.

At the end of Steinbeck's Tortilla Flat, a discouraged gopher, living in heaven
in a yard full of mallow, and hence mallow roots, has to leave his
garden of eden because there are no females in this food filled heaven.

Mallow is a hibiscus relative,
and hence is edible.

I ran some through my wheat grass
hand grind juicer
with wheat grass
home grown
this morning.

Is this a way to happiness?
One way.

Taking a walk
is another.

Following my breathing
is another.


Finding my skeleton
and breathing and noticing them,
and then playing with them
is another.

Being aware
of this
moment
as the unique
present
that it is

is always the path
back to happiness
now

this now
different
than the now
when the little essay/ poem
started

moving along
breathing in
yes
breathing out
yes
light coming in
our eyes
yes
feeling our skeleton
in gravity
yes
sounds coming in
our ears
what is our skin
touching

the now
is so
full

and if we keep
the stories
out
or question
the stories
(see, as always, The Work of Byron Katie)
or look at them with amused
side glances
of delight
and realization

realing this:
we can always
come back home
to a stillness
to
a noticing
to a
nowing
to
an awareness

of being alive
right now

yes

Happiness Now

Happiness now
often makes
absolutely no sense:

the neighbor is noisy.
the air is dirty.
the traffic is thick.
the book is boring.
there are no good movies.
talking to people is listening to them do the same thing,
over
and
over
and
over

and
la,
la

this is all the more reason
to go inside,
follow
the breathing,
go outside
and touch feet on the ground

go inside with breathing
and even
fancier:
on the In breath sense the left side
on the out breath sense the right side

and be outside,
sensing our feet on the ground,
and breathing in,
looking up and seeing the sky
and breathing out,
folding forward and looking down
and seeing the ground

up
down
in
out

is that enough
to come to happienss now?

who knows?
try it and see.

Back to one essay
per day,
rotating through this site
and the Wake Up Feldenkrais Bloggero
and the
Health and Whatnot Blog
one.

Though today, just to get the ball rolling,
I'll write one for each.

Then start the cycle tomorrow,
back here.

Spiritual Yoga, Paths to Heaven

DNA YOGA:
DISCOVERY
NATURE
ANANDA

Move safely.
Use the brilliance of the Feldenkrais Method® to discover more ease.
Include spiritual and emotion affirmations, as part of the practice.
Rest between each pose.
Meet outdoors, connect to Nature inside you and outside.


SEVEN PATHS TO HEAVEN:

DNA Yoga
Wake Up Feldenkrais
The Work of Byron Katie
Nature Connection, Permaculture
Slowing Down
Happiness
Now

Sleeping Life, and Life with Divine at the Center

Sleeping life is thus:

doing what we always do.

Doing what we hope, want others to approve of.

Doing what we are "supposed" to.

Having a mind full of "thoughts,"
which are auditory hallucinations of us saying the same things,
over and over and over.

Responding according to program.
Even,
sadly at Ananda:
how do you feel asked by teacher,
and the robot
response:
Awake and Ready.
Ready yes, to please,
but awake,
to the feel of feet on floor,
the vibration of sound in throat,
the quality of light
Right Now.

Usually not.

And yet,
a big longing for Ananda
at least they knew
and wanted
connection to
Something More,
Something Higher.

The Divine in life,
the Delight at the Center of it all,
the Joy that Haffiz
sparkles us to
over and over in his poems.

So, what's next
for this seeker,
who isn't clear how to get
what he's seeking?

The work of Byron Katie
as usual,
leads me
and anyone straight to heaven.

Is it true
I should know exactly or even slightly more than I do
what to do next?

Nah.

If I want more clarity than I have
what happens:
unhappiness.

If i give up the story
of wanting a clear way
to resolve the longing,
who am I?
Free,
delighted.
Divine.
Perfect.

Just the way
you are
without your story.

What kind of yoga is the Yoga I'll be teaching?

One way I've started to call it is
DNA yoga.

Discovery, Nature, Aware/ Ananda Yoga

D.
Discovery,
for taking advantagege of my training
(4 years of the "basic" training,
and then another 700 hours beyond that)
as a Feldenkrais Practitioner.

The Feldenkrais Method®,
is a method of learning to
think,
move,
feel better,
via
being more aware,
and taking the emphasis
off of "getting it done,"
or "getting it Right,"
or "making progress,"
and bringing us back to a state
of learning
and discovery,
the state we were in when we were young
and a genius, say from birth to a couple of
years old.

See my
What is the Feldenkrais Method? One word, two word,,, one sentence, two sentence, and so on, brilliant little collection
of ways to look at the method.

Anyway,
working with me
in either DNA yoga,
or "regular" (which means wildly creative and transformative)
Feldenkrais "work,"
or in the Work of Byron Katie,
and
you can be delightedly assured
that,
Discovery will be there
deep and firm in our joint unfolding.

Okay,
that's discovery.

And N.
NATURE.
I'll be having classes outdoors as much a possible.
All this hiding inside four walls,
cutting ourselves off from blue skies
and real earth,
and grass and
soil
and wind
and the elements:
nonsense.
Insanity.
How can we be sane
in a world
when we are always cut off from the world.

that's part of the NATURE part.
Another part:
Discovering what our human nature is.
To feel.
and to sense.
and what is the difference?
To make sense of something,
what does that mean?
To live in gravity.
What does that mean?
To have breath of which we can be conscious
or unconscious,
what does that mean?

A
as in awareness is perhaps the most
amazing aspect
of being human.
That or, L
love.

Awareness is crucial to real learning,
and helps us grow younger,
and makes the gains easier
and quicker,
and makes this changing and getting better
stuff more like a game,
than the usual grunting away often
found in yoga practices.

Also,
A
is Ananda Yoga

Ananda yoga
is how I was trained
and certified at the 200 hour level
required by yoga alliance.
(compared to 800 hours for the "basic Feldenkrais" training).

Ananda yoga is about
being relaxed
and sending spiritual energy up your spine.
If that doesn't make sense,
it's about being relaxed,
even in the midst of efforts
and continually bringing awareness inside of yourself.

One way it does this is with affirmations.
For example,
the affirmation in what's called "Child's Pose"
(Balasana)
is
"I relax from outer involvement
into my inner haven of peace."

This not only accentuates and deepens
the posture,
but gives a big hint at what Ananda yoga is about.

Another posture,
warrior 2, Vira II,
Virabhadrasana II,
is a strong and joyous pose.
Its affirmation is,
either
(my version)
"I open gladly to the strength and glory
of being Alive."
or
the official version,
"I joyfully manifest
the power of God."

So
A
could be about Affirmations.

So, come to a class,
you'll love the affirmations.

And between poses
you rest,
and say the affirmations again.
This isn't about getting sweaty
and using yoga like going to the gym.

This is using yoga
for spiritual and emotional strengthening.

Though,
with the Feldenkrais
and awareness emphasis,
A
for
Awareness,
you will get more flexible,
much more readily
and EASILY,
than in normal,
do a bunch of postures
and always fuss with DOING IT RIGHT,
and never slow down
and really learn yoga.

This is yoga to learn,
to transform,
to enjoy,
to connect.

Deeply.
To yourself,
to others,
to the Earth,
to Spirit,
to your Higher Self.

Benefits of this Work (DNA Yoga, and Feldenkrais), and Who Can Benefit

Partial list of Benefits

•Improve coordination,
breathing, comfort

• Increase balance, sports,
daily life

• Heighten clarity of thinking,
and problem solving

• Brain re-wiring

• Becoming younger in
learning, attitude, and
flexibility

• Prevent injury

• Avoid surgery

• Ease and transform pain

• Reduce Stress

• Get smarter

Partial list of Who Can Benefit

•Meditators, and gardeners

• Athletes, professional and
amateur

• Musicians, dancers,
actors, singers

• Yoga students, and teachers

• All teachers

• Depressed, confused, stuck
people

• Seniors

• Special Needs Children

• High performers wanting
relaxed acceleration

• Anyone wanting improvement
in their lives


Five Paths to Heaven
1) DNA Yoga
2) Wake Up Feldenkrais
3) The Work of Byron Katie
4) Nature Connection, Permaculture
5) Now

Clear and Present

I loved being at Ananda for a month.

The nature.

The same people
that we got to see
without getting in cars,
and making appointments
in our calenders
and all that normal
"when can we get together....
so busy...
i'll call...."
nonsense.

people
meet
greet
have time for each other.

that was part of my campaign
for slow sonoma:
stop driving off
somewhere else,
walk over to a neighbor's
house
and talk, or garden, or walk together

anyway:
i realize
now
back in sonoma,
(which is not as slow
as i was in ananda,
a village that deliberately
did not put in a cell phone tower)

how important a spiritual under
pinning was

i am not a total yoganada
fan
though i love his book

but i like a spiritual
place
and i like
yoga where they say
yogas chitta vritti nirodah,
which means,
yoga
is the stilling
of the whirlpools of thought and worry and hurry
and a coming back to the stillness of just now.

i like being present
now,
and clear
and unhurried
and unworried

i do disagree with all this stress
in ananda about working
up the energy
i think
the energy is always there,
and if we just stop being unhappy,
or unpresent
or worried
or tense (which comes from unawareness, often),
then we have all the energy in the world

maybe i'm wrong

but i'm really liking this idea
of
clear and present mind
no real focus,
except the focus of
such a sweet space of
being here
aware
alive,

all that,
what a prize
each
moment
a gift

yeah, yeah,
you know the one,
a
present

Life is Now

And nothing else.

When I remember this:
ease.

When I forget:
trouble,
worry,
concern,
effort,
unhappiness.

So why do I forget?
Because it's a habit.

How can I,
how can we,
remember more?

Follow the breathing.
Do the The Work of Byron Katie
when we have an unhappy thought.

Or, when
we have almost any thought.

Life as experience:
sweet.

Life as thoughts about
experience:
sometimes good,
often iffy.

Life
as living up to
other people's thoughts
and expectations:
hell.

Coming Soon: DNA Yoga

Well,
just what the world needs, right,
a new form of yoga?

And then,
again,
in a way,
this is a return to the ancient form of yoga,
and perhaps it is exactly what the world needs.

And what is the ancient form?
A search for inner stillness
and inner peace
and inner connection
to Something Higher,
either in ourselves
or in the Universe.

Ananda (the A in DNA) Yoga,
is all about connecting to this Higher.
The intension is the concentrate on
sending energy up the spine
to the area of the front brain
called the third eye.

To help this along
every pose
has an affirmation attached:
With calm Faith I open to Thy Light.
I am calm and poised.
I joyfully manifest the power of God (my Higher Self)

and so on.

DNA

Discovery.
As in taking advantage of how Moshe Feldenkrais
re-explored how children learn,
by "mistakes:"
and variations
and experimenting
and being in the process.
Yoga is often so dreary with its
emphasis on
This is the Right Way.

The Right Way
may indeed be a fine way,
but if the human being
can't discover and know that
for herself or himself,
it's just one more Rule
that is pushing us around.

So, DNA yoga will be about discovery.

And N,
Nature.
As much as possible,
classes will be outside,
bare feet on grass, for
the standing poses.

As much as possible
the class will be about not
Doing it Right,
but discovering
what it is to be a human being,
a breathing
and living in gravity
and having awareness
human being on this planet earth.

A
for Ananda Yoga.

A for
Awareness.

a delight.
a way out of our misery
a way back to ourselves.
a way to wake up
to the glory of life.

Call me
if you have a time
you'd like this
DNA yoga to be taught.

707-996-1437

'
Also:
weekend workshops'
will be set up
to combine DNA yoga,
Feldenkrais
and the Work of Byron Katie

Talk about transformative possibilities.

Wow.

The shift

Are we going to go under
as a species,
or are we going
to rise
to the opportunity,
for a sweet and amazing
resurrection of human,
humane,
earth centered,
love oriented,
now is great
values?

This movie, is a great start: The Shift

4 minutes.
Take them.

Home again, home again, jiggidy jig

Sunset from Plane, PDX to OAK

(And is it true,
I ever left Home?
See, as always,
TheWork.com)

Last phase off and
did
dad
done
last night,

Into a plane,
after sharing a taxi ride to the Portland
Airport with Sandy Buckhart
an old time Feldie
and even older time Physical Therapist,
who has made it one of his life's missions
to bring the wisdom of Feldenkrais to the PT world,
and the scientific rigor of the best of PT to the Feldie world.
(see FunctionalRehabilitation.Com)

So,
on the plane
we head south,
and that left the sunset on
the right,
where I was sitting at the window.

La, la,
Sweet Marlie
picked me up
and then home
for the first time since June 30.
Fun.

So,
what was Ananda?
A marvelous place.
A spiritual yoga.
A wonderful group of people.

Ananda 2007 yoga, fun, life and learning group

And we can't forget,
the river.

the waters near Ananda, plus Robert

And
the last phase
was Reed College,
a beaitiful spot
with shabby pretend healthy food,
lots of Feldie
wonderful people
including Annie Thoe,
an assistant trainer,
who is a fellow Nature Lover to the Max,
and a fine Garden
across the street.
One last pic
here,

Lake in beautiful Garden across the Way from Reed College,
in Portland, Oregon, site of this year's Feldenkrais Guild Conference

'cause all this computer time
is not being outside
time.

So
I'm back "home"
and was
"home"
so many times
thanks to being present
or great people
or waters
and land
and sweet moments
of stillness
or joy
or learning
or now
or pleasure
or
you know,
like
Living.


Love
to all and anyone reading this.

Stay tuned for the five
paths to happiness, peace of mind,
transformation,
and an overall
wonderful
Life.

Loving God

What if i didn't
believe in God,
especially the old testament
Rule and Regulation
and very
male
very punishment oriented
Dude

okay,
okay
i wouldn't be alone


and what if i had this feeling
of loving God,
in the God
as Life on Earth
way of Being

or the God
as Everything

or the God
as the Big Something
the Big Mystery
the Big Wonder
full
ness of
It ALL

can i do that?

i quess so

why not?


feels good
feels true

doing the affirmations
with the Ananda Yoga
and a little meditation
along with the yoga twice
a day
feels great

connecting to something
still
and quiet
and amazing

this is good

yes