There is pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society, where none intrudes,
By the deep sea, and music in its roar:
I love not man the less, but Nature more,
From these our interviews, in which I steal
From all I may be, or have been before,
To mingle with the Universe, and feel
What I can ne’er express, yet cannot all conceal.

if
the ocean
can calm itself,
so can you.
we
are both
salt water
mixed with air.

John Ruskin

There is a life-force within your soul,
seek that life.
There is a gem in the mountain of your body
Seek that mine.
O’ traveler, if you are in search of that
Don’t look outside
Look inside yourself and seek that.

The sensations of the asana are accessible to everyone. Learning to ground, to extend, to expand, to move in multiple directions at once, all the while breathing are all accessible while sitting as well as standing.

The moment you become miserly you are closed to the basic phenomenon of life: expansion, sharing. The moment you start clinging to things, you have missed the target — you have missed. Because things are not the target, you, your innermost being, is the target — not a beautiful house, but a beautiful you; not much money, but a rich you; not many things, but an open being, available to millions of things.

Don’t give into your fears. If you do, you won’t be able to talk to your heart.

We are powerful beyond measure, and so deeply vulnerable at the same time. This may seem like a dichotomy, but it isn’t. We have misunderstood real power. It has been something assertive, non-surrendering, pushing on through. This is not real power. This is simply willfulness. Real power is something else - receptivity, openness, the courage to keep your heart open on the darkest of days, the strength to feel it all even when the odds are stacked against you. Real power is showing up with your heart on your sleeve and absolutely refusing to waste one moment of your life hidden behind edginess and armor.

I look at you and see all the ways a soul can bruise, and I wish I could sink my hands into your flesh and light lanterns along your spine so you know that there’s nothing but light when I see you

I sit before flowers
hoping they will train me in the art
of opening up.

I stand on mountain tops believing
that avalanches will teach me to let go.

I know
nothing

but I am here to learn.

Hal Borland

You’re a ghost driving a meat coated skeleton made from stardust, what do you have to be scared of?

Your heart and my heart are very, very old friends.

There is always something to be grateful for.

A woman cannot make the culture more aware by saying ‘Change.’ But she can change her own attitude toward herself, thereby causing devaluing projections to glance off. She does this by taking back her body. By not forsaking the joy of her natural body, by not purchasing the popular illusion that happiness is only bestowed on those of a certain configuration or age, by not waiting or holding back to do anything, and by taking back her real life, and living it full bore, all stops out. This dynamic self-acceptance and self-esteem are what begins to change attitudes in the culture.