SHAPE SHIFTING IN 2011

2010 has been quite a ride.  I almost think that's enough said, but I do like to blather on so: 2010 was the year of letting go.  Lot's of what let go was necessary, but isn't always easier to walk away first?  That way at least you feel like you had some CONTROL.  Well ladies and gentleman maybe I will finally begin to wrap my mind around the truth that there is nothing to control.  We don't control our lives and in fact the more I try to do so the less my life seems to "work", by that I mean flow.  This year I said goodbye to friends, colleagues and clients, savings and LOU.  A clean slate.

 

This year instead of writing resolutions,  I am focusing more on what my intentions are for the year ahead.  These intentions will shape the year of 2011, but also reflect how I want to anchor the bigger vision of my life path.  These intentions arise from the understanding that I can no longer try to manifest the MAHA or BIGGER -THAN-ME reason that I am on the planet unless I step back and take some time for RADICAL SELF-NOURISHMENT.  Simply said, in 2011 I want to take really good care of myself.   Instead of making a list and checking (and ignoring it) twice,  I’m going to focus on three intentions geared toward radical self care. THREE: BODY, MIND and SPIRIT.  Rather than burying my intentions in one of my many journals (that way if I slip up no one will "know"),  instead I’m sharing them here and I am also planning a to spend a good portion of New Year’s Day creating a super-powered Vision Board.  This is something I’ve been wanting to create for a while and as I am learning from my reading of the WAR of ART (Big Holler to James Abel), “procrastination is the most common manifestation of resistance because it’s the easiest to rationalize”.  This way I’ll be reminded of the three pillars that will serve to  uplift my life each and every day, in 2011 and beyond.

BODY : There are two intentions here, but they go hand in hand, and I need one to kick start the other.  First I have committed to undertake a juice feast, for at least two weeks and up to the full month of JANUARY.  I prepare and guide cleanses for people several times a month, so many people think this will be a natural for me, but I have found (as I believe many people in the healing arts do in one way or another) that it is actually much easier to care for others than it is to care for oneself.  The more ongoing intention, one that will be carried through 2011 and beyond is that I am recommitting to my own personal asana practice and (gasp) I am actually going to hold that paramount to booking clients.  It’s not that I am going to let it get in the way of my teaching, quite the opposite.  These commitments to myself will help replenish the well from which I can draw and share my teaching from.

MIND: This one goes hand in hand with the Juice Feast I am embarking on. (So I didn’t really slip an extra one in, as many of you know I do like to take on a little too much).  I am not going to go this journey alone, so I have engaged the guidance of a very experienced Juice Feast coach.  In fact he is the “creator” of the JUICE FEAST process.  This gentleman is David Rainoshek, MA.  David and I will speak every day to support not just the process of the juicing, but more importantly, how this process will peel back extraneous layers of ideas I have held about myself (who I am /what I do) and how those concepts may be keeping me back from shining more brightly in my life.  This MIND part and these coaching sessions are about the intention of deep self reflection.

SPIRIT: This is the intention to saying “YES”.  Saying Yes to my life and saying Yes to leaning into things that might not feel entirely comfortable, simply because I don't identify with them.  Instead of digging the same groove (samskara) more deeply I want to choose to lean into the possibilities that life is presenting. So saying YES to the letting go so that I can say YES to the opportunity that reveals itself in the space that the "letting go"created.  If I am going to learn anything from 2010 it’s that life really does REQUIRE that we "let go and let GOD".  Above all saying “yes”  opens me up to my life and all the people and experiences that remind me that LIFE IS MAGICAL.

THE ART OF GIVING

“Give a man a fish, he eats for a day; teach a man to fish, he eats for a lifetime.”



What does it mean to give?  This is a question on all of our minds in some way or another this time of year. 

I was just with my father and family on his side to celebrate his 70th birthday. It was wonderful to be with his siblings, 4 of whom are now officially in their 70‘s, as well as our cousins and their kids.  Everyone contributed something to the meal, especially my brother Guy (who also has generously gifted much of his time and gifts, over the years, to my work via his photographs) and my sister-in-law Kate. This love of sharing stories and laughter around a meal is the gift I have received and continue to receive from my family.  It seems to be my calling to to pass this on to others.



Birthdays and holidays are always a time when we think about giving.  But I have always sensed (and to a large degree practiced) that Gifts and Giving are really two separate things. The first consideration is the fact that a gift is a noun and giving is a verb.  Gifts always come wrapped in paper and bows of some sort. They range from lovely confections of elaborate and extreme means to the thing haphazardly purchased and wrapped because we felt obligated to give a gift. Yet the act of giving comes in many different guises.  For me the distinction is that when you give, there is always something from the heart of yourself extending toward the heart and well being of the person who is receiving.  In the best circumstances, it’s a co-creative process, because you are actually being inspired by the other person to share something with them.  The GIFT then almost finds its way to you. 



After the party Kirk and I went to the Long Valley abode and set up cozy camp.  We made dinner together, the highlight being a few choice pieces of fresh venison. This meat was something we were GIVEN from a friend who hunts.  Venison is not something I would normally buy, for many reasons, but being given some fresh meat was a nourishing gift.  We savored the venison with a celery root pure, fresh cranberry compote and mustard greens.



In the morning after all good intentions to sleep as late as possible I finally succumbed to being awake and went downstairs to greet the day.  I curled on the couch with a mug of tea and Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution.  I was very moved by his PASS IT ON initiative.  In the book Jamie asks each person to learn a recipe from each section of the book and then teach it to someone else with the intention that they will in turn "pass it on".  I love this idea and the truth of it and also believe that it is a NECESSITY.  So much of the time in the act of giving what we are really doing is consuming, but think about the possibilities and doors and windows and landscapes you could open up if you were to share a skill you had, teach another person a useful and sustain able skill.  Where does the effect and depth of that gift end? 


This practice of " pass it on" also brings me back to my yogic roots. In the yogic tradition the student is ultimately receiving lessons from the guru.  The Guru, literally the remover of darkness, is the teacher or the guide who lifts the veils Maya, or illusion,  to illuminate highest potential that exits within each and every one of us. It is vital that each of us begin to recognize that this inner teacher is here to guide us on this journey and hopefully begin to use this awareness to guide us in the choices we make about our every day life. Then we begin to understand the powerful influence the choices we make every day have toward creating effective and lasting change in our world.  It is imperative that we not only begin to understand this, but to take action.  

If we apply this to the practice of giving or gifting we can extend ourselves in many ways.

So, this Gifting Season,  I invite you to take a few moments to think well on what experiences, people or teachings have moved you personally and find a way to share or gift that to some one near and dear or with someone you are just beginning to know.

WINTER SLAW

1 head red cabbage, cored and thinly sliced
Celtic Sea Salt
1 cup mung bean sprouts

5 scallions, thinly sliced
1 chili pepper, seeded and finely diced
2-4T ginger, finely diced   
¼ cup hemp seeds
2 tbsp black sesame seeds

Sesame-Miso Dressing

1/4 cup sesame oil
2T shoyu

2T white miso
filtered water as needed

½ cup cilantro, chopped

Place the cabbage in a large bowl and salt with course Celtic sea salt.  Massage the salt in to cabbage and let stand for about 15 minutes to help soften the cabbage.  When softened to your liking, rinse well and drain. 

While the cabbage is standing blend the dressing ingredients.
 

Combine the cabbage with the mung beans, scallions, hemp, black sesame seeds, chili pepper, and ginger. Pour the dressing over the slaw and toss the cilantro leaves in.