there is some kiss we want with 
our whole lives, the touch of 
spirit on the body.

seawater begs the pearl to break its shell.
and the lily, how passionately
it needs some wild darling!

at night, i open the window and ask
the moon to come and press its
face against mine.

breathe into me.
close the language-door and
open the love window.

the moon won’t use the door,
only the window.

~rumi

sri k. pattabhi jois, indian ashtanga vinyasa yoga teacher and student of krishnamacharya, passed away today at 94 years old.

don’t let your mind get weary and confused 
your will be still, don’t try 
don’t let your heart get heavy, child 
inside you there’s a strength that lies 

don’t let your soul get lonely, child 
it’s only time, it will go by 
don’t look for love in faces, places 
it’s in you, that’s where you’ll find kindness 

don’t lose your faith in me 
and I will try not to lose faith in you 
don’t put your trust in walls 
’cause walls will only crush you when they fall 

be here now

one of my all-time favorite songs by one of my all-time favorite artists. 

when i was 22, a friend of mine recommended this book to me. after reading just a few pages, i thought i had stumbled upon the most fascinating secrets regarding a woman’s body and her intuition. throughout the years, i have met many women who feel this book brings a new awareness to their lives and the significant choices they make on a daily basis. christiane northrup, a medical doctor who approaches women’s health from a medical and holistic standpoint, encourages women to get in touch with our own bodies and inner wisdom to heal ourselves physically, emotionally, spiritually and mentally; to explore who we are as individuals and look to our own intuition for answers. i have included a few paragraphs from the book to share with you:

there is a difference between healing and curing. healing is a natural process and is within the power of everyone. curing, which is what doctors are called upon to do, usually consists of an external treatment; medication or surgery is used to mask or eliminate symptoms. this external treatment doesn’t necessarily address the factors that contributed to the symptoms in the first place. healing goes deeper than curing and must always come from within. it address the imbalance that underlies the symptoms. healing brings together the often hidden aspects of a person’s life as they relate to her illness. 

although our entire bodies are affected by our thoughts and emotions and their various parts talk to each other, each individual’s body language is unique. no matter what has happened in her life, a woman has the power to change what that experience means to her and thus change her experience, both emotionally and physically.

we are meant to move toward whatever gives us fulfillment, personal growth and freedom. we are born knowing what activities, things, thoughts and feelings are associated with these qualities. we must learn to trust ourselves and know that we can naturally move toward that which is healing and fulfilling.

many people have been taught that they can’t have what they want and that a life full of struggle is somehow more honorable than one full of joy. we have also been taught to distrust something if it is too fulfilling or too much fun. this belief is reflected in our bodies.

in addition to knowing what we do want, we have the capacity to know what we don’t want. the ability to say no to what doesn’t support us is an essential part of our inner guidance system. it is never too late to start saying no to those things that drain you and yes to those that replenish you.

only our connection with our own inner guidance and our emotions is reliable in the end. that is because we each comprise a multitude of processes that have never existed before and never will again. science must acknowledge truthfully how much it does not know and leave room for mystery, miracles and the wisdom of nature.

remaining unconscious about our acculturated habits takes an enormous emotional and physical toll on our bodies and spirits. these habits keep us from being connected with our inner guidance and our emotions. this disconnection, in turn, keeps us in a state of pain that increases the longer we deny it. it takes a lot of energy to stay out of touch with this pain, and we often turn to acculturated habits, such as addictive substances, to keep us from confronting that unhappiness and pain.

 this book, which was given to me as a gift, gracefully explores the possibility of combining independence and freedom as an individual with love and partnership. i have included an excerpt from this beloved book, gift from the sea by anne morrow lindbergh:

i must find a balance…a swinging of the pendulum between solitude and communion, between retreat and return.

a good relationship has a pattern like a dance and is built on some of the same rules. the partners do not need to hold on tightly, because they move confidently in the same pattern. there is no place here for the possessive clutch, the clinging arm, the heavy hand; only the barest touch in passing, because they know they are partners moving to the same rhythm, creating a pattern together, and being invisibly nourished by it.

when each partner loves so completely that he has forgotten to ask himself whether or not he is loved in return; when he only knows that he loves and is moving to its music - then, and then only, are two people able to dance perfectly in tune to the same rhythm.

when you love someone, you do not love them all the time, in exactly the same way, from moment to moment. it is an impossibility. it is even a lie to pretend to. and yet this is exactly what most of us demand. we have so little faith in the ebb and flow of life, of love, of relationships. we insist on permanency, on duration, on continuity; when the only continuity possible, in life as in love, is in growth, fluidity - in freedom, in the sense that dancers are free, barely touching as they pass, but partners in the same pattern. the only real security is not in owning or possessing, not in demanding or expecting, not in hoping, even. 

both partners are lost in a common sea of the universal which absorbs and yet frees, which separates and yet unites. is this not what the more mature relationship, the meeting of two solitudes, is meant to be?

out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing,

there is a field.

i’ll meet you there.

when the soul lies down in that grass,

the world is too full to talk about.

ideas, language, even the phrase each other 

doesn’t make any sense. 

~rumi

this song does it for me…her voice, her words, her delivery.

close your eyes and the music will find its way into your soul. 

i believe in truth…

out of this noise, here comes the stillness
out of this chaos, here comes the order
out of this language, out of this language
out of these words…(music by autamata)