brooklyn reflection
December 17th, 2008 by gem Posted in ascent, community, reflection
Our NYC correspondent, Gem Salsberg, offers a slice of life from the big city… This afternoon I was riding the subway, on the train heading over the water homeward into Brooklyn. There was a tough scar-faced looking guy sitting in the chair directly behind me. His spine aligned to my spine. He sat with his little boy, about 5 years old. I caught on partway into what the little boy was saying, “….Forty, eight, ninety, two, three three, two hundred, seven, seventy, one, five, four, eighty, hundred, million, thousand, billion and infiniti!” I peeked over my shoulder innocuously, but only saw the cheek of the man with his scarred up tough-looking face. The boy said, “That’s a lot! Isn’t it?! That’s a lot!” “Yes,” the father said calmly, “it is.” There was silence. The train doors slid open slid closed the station passed, the people came on and exited, sat and stood, read and music bobbed their quiet heads. “I love you.” The father said suddenly. His voice was deep and certain. “You know that? I love you.” The kid said “How much?” And the father, I could hear his truth in his voice as he answered “If there is The Place after The Life, I love you there.” “Why?” asked the boy. “Because,” answered the scar-faced man, “you are my boy. You are my beautiful boy.” All the sounds inside my veins and mind went quiet. And I wanted to be a peekhole, the centre between the index finger and the thumb, a window, so that the future person this boy would one day be – so that he could sit in my chair, eves-dropping on his child self and his young father. And that this memory moment would arrive unexpectedly, in a second of doubt, uncertainty, loneliness. So he would hear what we all need to hear. An honest voice speaking of love, a truth, a precious thing. If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
taking yoga to the streets
October 17th, 2008 by michael Posted in ascent, reflection, urban yogi/ni
ascent magazine sponsored Ottawa-based yoga teacher, Michael McCarthy, for a weekend Street Yoga teacher training course. Here, Michael writes about his learnings and insights from the weekend. Over the coming months, Michael will contribute to the ascent blog and share how he integrates the training into his teaching practice. Mark Lilly, the founder of Street Yoga, has been teaching yoga to homeless youth in Portland, Oregon for the past 6 years. I traveled from Ottawa to Gananoque, Ontario for a weekend teacher training program and to experience his enthusiasm, wisdom and encouragement with 16 other yogis/yoginis. We discussed how to approach youth living with various circumstances, from homelessness to mental health issues. We shared different hatha poses we liked and why yoga was so important in our personal lives. Most importantly, we shared the importance of teaching from a grounded place and why yoga and selfless service go hand in hand. read more… If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
the underbelly, wooof wooof
September 22nd, 2008 by gem Posted in community, reflection, urban yogi/ni
Now, I sit here trying to write about living in New York. Hmm, tonight is kind of fitting to my stereotyped idea of this city before I came here - under my window is a large group of wannabe gangsters, pumping-up rap music from their sooped-up Honda’s, with steroid injected stereo systems. Boom Boom Bang Bang If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
stepping into controversy
June 27th, 2008 by eileen Posted in ascent, community, reflection
It is fascinating to read various responses to the article on ahimsa. Thank you all for weighing in and sharing your perpsectives. I especially appreciate the chance to read from Palaniswami’s personal translations of the ancient debate on meat-eating. “The jaws of Hell close on those who do” [eat meat] — Wow. Now THAT’S violence! I’ve never been one to seek out controversy. In fact, I’m of the type that usually avoids it at all costs. And yet, if I was to be honest and authentic in my reflections on ahimsa, then I would need to walk all around the issue, even though I anticipated that the view from another place on the 360 degree path would greatly upset some readers. Of course I knew that not everyone lives a rural lifestye as I do. And yet, as Geoffrey observes, it is really more about how than what and my experience of aboriginal cultures seemed like an effective way to illustrate that idea. The sustainability issue attempts to move beyond dualistic thinking. Surely, the dualism we create daily in “us and them” responses that emphasize only one way as the right way underpins much of the harm and violence suffered by people around the world, by other creatures and as is now clear, by the Earth. Consciousness rises slowly. In the meantime, let’s keep talking about these important subjects, moving ourselves and others gradually toward that third place of greater complexity and acceptance. If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
revolved triangle
February 27th, 2008 by eileen Posted in reflection, the glass seed
What does the asana revolved triangle have to do with promoting The Glass Seed? I found out last week when I made a journey back to my childhood home in the United States. Martinez, California is a small town east of San Francisco. It has been somewhat engulfed by suburban sprawl in the three decades since I left to attend university, but still feels much like the cohesive community that helped shape me to be who I am. Thanks to development restrictions, the golden hills dotted with the stately, dark green forms of California live oak remain much as I remember them. There was lots of Martinez pride for the local girl made good. I attended a crowded booksigning at the tiny and fiercely independent Sheila Grilli Books and a few days later received a proclaimation from the City Council declaring February 20 as “Eileen Delehanty Pearkes” day. At both events, I experienced love and admiration for my parents, two long-time members of the community who, before they passed away in 1999 and 2007, shared great energy and love with the citizens of Martinez throughout their adult lives. My return was a chance for people to honour the memory of my parents, as well as my own accomplishments. If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
Revolved triangle requires a strong standpoint, feet firmly planted as the body bends down (with humility) and twists around (to look back). As I returned to my mat this week, I have thought about the poise and balance that my recent book-touring required. Graciously accepting recognition offered by the place and people that helped form me felt a lot like the steady intention of looking back, standing firm and breathing evenly in revolved triangle. I am ever grateful for my yoga practice, which brings greater meaning to my life in so many ways.photo of Swami Lalitananda by andrea rollefson
taking wing, flying straight
February 11th, 2008 by eileen Posted in reflection, the glass seed
Morn’s rising sweet With charm of earliest Birds. (Milton, Paradise Lost, IV. 642) Sometimes, when I jump forward from downward dog into a seated position during my yoga asana practice, I raise up to my fingertips before I begin the journey. Inevitably, when I do, I nearly fly right past myself, surprised by a successful execution of the “jump-through” — a form of yoga-flying. Though the jump-through is a cherished accomplishment, I have found that it is more than I’m ready for. Staying grounded in a yoga practice is, for me, an ongoing challenge. I watch finches feeding from my studio window as I write. They are energetic little birds who gobble the seeds and chatter to each other happily until they sense movement (from a camera-wielding blogger or a dog or a fierce gust of wind). Then, they alight like a shattered cloud and retreat high into a nearby maple tree for safety. A flock of finches is known as a “charm.” I have come to see these little birds as a form of magic. The charm so inspired me several years ago when they first stopped by my garden that they ended up in The Glass Seed, a memoir recently published by timeless books. I’ve been thinking about the finches lately as I prepare to fly off again, this time to California (where I grew up) to promote the book in the Bay Area of San Francisco. I will be one small finch in a very large sky, carrying a book in my beak, trying to fly straight and high and stay grounded at the same time. If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
outside the comfort zone
January 27th, 2008 by eileen Posted in reflection, the glass seed
It may be sub-zero and snowing outside, but I’ve managed to get a Hippeastrum (also known as “Amaryllis”) blooming in a west-facing indoor windowsill. The rich red, trumpet-shaped flower is enormously beautiful — full of passion for life. When I stick my face up close to the scarlet surface, a flower on this large a scale helps me understand what life might be like for a bee. 
A native of the tropics and sub-tropics, the Amaryllis in my Canadian windowsill blooms way outside its comfort zone. I marvel at how rapid the process has been, given the right conditions. I placed its large, bare bulb in a pot of soil just a few weeks ago.
Like the bulb supports the flower, yoga gives me the spiritual support I need to unveil beauty, colour and form in my own life, though I’ve been proceeding at a snail’s pace compared to this speedy bulb. And since I launched The Glass Seed and began an ongoing round of readings, book-signings and workshops in November, I have been operating far outside my comfort zone. As I have opened my typically introverted self to the wide world, the yoga-bulb, that storehouse of wisdom and knowledge, has supported my journey every step of the way.
There is lots to discuss and disbute about how North American culture applies the ancient traditions of yoga. The practice has taken hold here relatively quickly, and some would say without respect for the ancient connections. I’ll be watching with interest to see the colour, shape and form of yoga as it transplants and puts down roots in a decidedly different climate altogether.
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maitreya project in montreal
November 28th, 2007 by gef Posted in community, reflection
“Maitreya Project is based on the belief that inner peace and outer peace share a cause and effect relationship and that loving-kindness leads to peace at every level of society — peace for individuals, families, communities and the world. The Maitreya Buddha statue is being designed to last for at least 1,000 years. Through this entire new millennium and into the next, it will effect positive change within the hearts and minds of people all over the world and benefit the people of India through its social and economic activities. Maitreya Project’s vision includes schools that focus on ethical and spiritual development as well as academic achievement, and a healthcare network based around a teaching hospital of international standard to provide healthcare services, particularly for the poor and underprivileged.”
It was quite an interesting night since I arrived just at the beginning of a Buddhist offering ritual which I felt bad not attending and simply going to look at the relics. After the complete ceremony, with much bowing, walking meditation and mantra recitation, I was able to look at the relics, salute the Buddhas and receive blessing from the relics. I realize how hard is it for me as a North American to believe that someone would do all this just for world peace and loving kindness. Watching advertising on television yesterday I realized how, in our over media-saturated society, everyone is lying, making up stories, selling miracle products, etc. But after the ceremony I decided to put my judgment aside, paying respect to the project and offering what I can offer.
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seaweed yoga
November 19th, 2007 by eileen Posted in reflection, the glass seed
Just before I set off for Montreal and Toronto to promote The Glass Seed, and just after the seaweed scandal broke, I filed a draft of my next article for ascent magazine, one in which I discuss yoga’s ethical principle, satya, or, “truth.” As the controversy cooked up on Wall Street, I happened to be studying and thinking about truth as it is defined in Hindu philosophy. I watched the seaweed scandal with great interest.
Truth is an important foundation for the practice of yoga. Speaking the truth, acting with integrity and living authentically — these are guideposts not only for yoga, but for the successful manifestation of any spiritual ideal. Life often has a way of keeping us honest, of reminding us that we should mind what we say and mean what we say, too. Lululemon just got a crash course in satya. Truth matters, in the end. Whether you practice yoga or not.
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the yellow watermelon
November 13th, 2007 by eileen Posted in reflection, the glass seed
This past summer, I successfully grew a yellow watermelon from seed to fruit before the cold weather arrived. I live in a mountain climate where spring arrives slowly in fits and starts and summer sometimes brings unexpected cool nights. My garden is hardly an ideal environment for growing watermelons. I was, however, spurred by the challenge and decided to give it a try. The result, pictured here in case you don’t believe me, is a reminder that ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE. When my knife slid into the perfect, green globe in early September, the fruit crackled with a juice and life unlike any store-bought melon I had ever split. I only harvested one perfect melon, but it was worth all the effort.
This morning, as I lifted my legs up into the air in a headstand at the end of my yoga practice, I thought about the yellow watermelon. There was a time when doing a headstand was an impossibility. I tried and tried for years, but I could not get those feet to rise without flopping back down again. I could not keep strong in my core, or balance on my forearms. And then, about a year ago, with the help of a wonderful teacher, I finally achieved a headstand. (Thank you, Katie.)
Now, I lift my legs with poise and strength. My entire body weight is balanced quite securely on my watermelon-head, a place, I am learning, of juicy possibility. With my feet swaying ever-so-gently in the air and that melon-head cradled between my clasped hands, I reflect on the balancing act that a mind requires — a feat nearly as remarkable as that of harvesting a yellow watermelon in a Canadian mountain climate. ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE. A new mantra, to go with the memory of the sweet taste of a melon grown from seed.
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