Immersion Day Three

Okay- so here we are finished with Day Three.

John talked a lot this morning about studentship and about the fundamentals of practice. he talked about the author Tom Robbins who always writes at exactly the same time every day. "That way, " he supposedly says, "my muse knows exactly where to find me." This is how regularity of practice can be for us. If we have the ability and the life where we can arrange it so that we practice at the same time and place every day then we create a supportive matrix, almost a conditioned response where we become predisposed to the effects of practice- be it meditation, asana, or writing. (And in a previous post I explained exactly why I am not talking about the project in detail so you will just have to deal with your curiosities and so on. I will give you a hint. I am writing a book about yoga.) But anyway, since the book project deadline has been moved up, this piece about the muse was really inspiring. Writing has to move to the fore front of my practice life for a few months.

We talked also about Gunas and did a nice asana pracice with some fun arm balances woven intosome standing poses. Darren's wife Bronwyn sang a lovely chant to the Divine Mother and then we had a break. I practiced with the gang again at lunch which was a very nice forward bend practice which felt super grounding. I managed to get some time in sirsasana and halasana as well which was awesome.

The afternoon was a long Q&A session and a discussion on the five faces of Hanuman which was illuminating. I got a question of mine answered about the tattvas which was super and we made a foray into the rasas. We practiced some forward bends as a group and ended with a long savasana. A great day.

Rachel, Meg and Maple (Meg's little girl who is quite a sweetie) and I went out to dinner at a great Japanese place we used to go together when we came to workshops in Tucson so that was fun. It is so neat to be with them here. Meg is married and a mom and Rachel is now the owner of Prescott Yoga and married and so on. We have all come so far in our lives over these last 9 years we have known each other. Meg was in college when I met her and now she is this fabulous mother. Crazy. Rachel had just met Dan when I met her and now they have been married several years. And so on. Very cool. Growing up is really fun.

I am tired and my throat feels a little sore which usually indicates that I need to rest.

It is great to be here and to be hearing John's presentation this year and to see where his focus is right now. The biggest teaching of the day for me is this piece about the muse. Make sure your muse knows where to find you. That to me is the point of practice. A friend of mine who is a very experienced meditator said that sadhana is a way to stay put so that the Divine can find you. He said, for isntance, if you are at a shopping mall and you get separated from your party, the thing to do, once you realize that you are lost, is to sit down and stay still so that you can be found. He said meditation is is sitting down so that the Divine who is looking for you can find you. So any disciplined practice- asana, diet, mediation, study, music, art,etc. are those ways that we can reliably stay still so our muse can know where to find us. Love that.