Happy Imbolc Day, the Northern Hemisphere cross quarter threshold between winter and spring, the Celtic holy day embodied by Brighid, protector of the flame of hearth and home. She is a triple Goddess, the matron saint of domestic life, motherhood and birth, poets, healers and magicians. It is a time to remember these aspects of yourself and ignite the seeds of intention you planted in the flame of your Heart’s hearth in the dark of the passing winter. Here come the spring flowers and summer fruit!

All beginnings are seeded by the end from which it came, and at this threshold I gaze back over the best winter holy day season I can remember. This year is unfolding rapidly and I feel fortunate I was able to end my 2011 Anusara tour in South America with Grace and then join John Friend in Denver for the culmination of the Dancing with Divine tour, and a Divine Dance it was!

Solstice Christmas week was full and busy with family and loved ones under perfect Arizona sunshine weather. It was a great honor to spend another beautiful week for New Year’s in Encinitas with beloved friends and John Friend sharing practice, joy, love and envisioning the great blessings to come. After a 1.1.12 gorgeous day and Encinitas practice, a couple of us were blessed to witness the most magickal beach sunset ever near the unfolding Anusara Center. As the sun hit the thin layer of haze on the horizon, it morphed from a firey sphere into a perfect pyramid, and then into a Mayan pyramid as it nestled into the unrevealed 2012 Grace of the Pacific Ocean. For me, it was a sacred manifestation of Nature’s geometric message heralding an auspicious beginning for the year with great chosen company. It was one sunset I will never forget, one that inspired and ignited my Heart.

The ignition of your own Heart Core is the awakening to the always present eternal Presence that is your Essence and that same Essence of everyone and everything. It is the Light of your own Awareness, that has no beginning or end, and in its highest state is ecstatic Bliss, shining through you always. The recognition and experience of this Light ignites the joyful experience of Self love and acceptance, and spontaneously reflects back out as Luminous Love. This Light when felt is Joy, when physically expressed is laughter and smiles, when shared with others it is Love for its own delight.

To finish this missive I’ll share this quote from my beloved friend and teacher, Anodea Judith: May you “Move from the love of power to the power of Love.”

Sending you love and ease for your continuing inner unfolding in this transformational Leap Year, 2012, a firey/watery year of the Dragon.

With ignited delight and a leap of luminous love into Spring,

At the culmination of any creative cycle all the energy that has been created prior mounts to point and is cumulative in the Purna Huti, or the fullness of the Celebration. More than just the 2011 tour, the fullness of all the past 14 years of Anusara, and all those 1000’s of years of teachings, all the great beings who have walked before us, have seeded this Path of awakening are present in this critical point of power for the future.

After two days of excellent practice and play, pranayama and deep contemplation, John educated us about 2012. He spoke of the deep order of the way everything is related to everything else, mathematically through sacred geometry, astrophysically and spiritually, teachings that resonate as a deep ancient remembering of why we have all found each other.

He asked Anodea Judith, illustrious master genius and best selling author on the chakras, to comment on the coming times. She said “we are all unified in a similar vision, it is one of the most critical times, an initiation to humanity, into the beginning of the Godhood.”

John concurred, “It is the time to move from the individual power to the Heart and feel the connectivity to everyone else. We are on a precipice of the major shift, and shift can be painful. Crazy little edges, one little thing and we have major transformation. By our self it would be scary, but now we have so many aligned with this vision, this is how we shift to the initiation. It is a death on one level and birth on the other, both are painful. We are evolving. It’s an incredible time of shift.” He asked Anodea to give us a blessing to take home for 2012, “Move from the love of power to the power of Love” is the gift she offered.

“Whatever destiny we have, whatever karmic things, we are the ones with the responsibility and dharma, strong and flexible, with character. Speak the Truth and people will listen. Put the Truth out and it will shake things up, it is positive for all of us. We emphasis Love, the power of Love works. Light attracts Light. We will shift the world. May the Light be triumphant in the Dark.” – John Friend Purna Huti 2011 Dancing with the Divine

This is your moment, your point of power, to make shift and change, to benefit all beings, those who walk beside you and those who will come after you for generations to come.

Om Namah Shivaya.

Gazing back on this most wildly Shri-filled year, this is the time to see where we’ve grown, where we can refine, count blessings and extract the blessing energy from the heat of the year’s challenges. I feel so blessed and grateful to have been able to do what I love and love what I do! Every month was full of adventure, wonderment and love. So many highlights, so many new deep heart connections, strengthened old ones, inner thresholds crossed and inner challenges, sick loved ones, death and close calls, new babies, beautiful beginnings and even a few bittersweet and welcome endings, all of which are counted blessings.

From the twilight of this Master threshold year 2011 peering into the unknown darkness of the 2012, our counted blessings illuminate the inner scape of 2012 as infinite points of light on a moonless night. Our blessings light our way as we venture into the unrevealed cycle of Grace. Next year promises to be full of more blessings both joyful and challenging; friends we haven’t met and a deeper remembrance and recognition of our essential Nature and what truly is meaningful. As our awakening planet leaps into higher awareness and healing, I’m honored and grateful to share Anusara’s Tantric teachings on our playground of Shiva-Shakti, this Earth Island third rock from the sun. More opportunities for us to come together as world visionaries; envisioning, co-creating, and taking personal action aligned to something greater than ourselves, to serve the Flow in these uneasy critical times. May we all feel the blessedness of being alive, awake and free to choose how to offer to and cultivate this garden we’ve be given.

This season is all about the Light. Just about every civilization, tradition and religious belief system has some historical connection to ritual celebration of Light at this time of year. For those of us in the northern hemisphere, the winter solstice invites us into the cozy hearth fire of our own soul. The sun stands still as the Goddess delivers the physical Sun from the depths of the longest night. It is a time that invites us to dive deeply into the inner Light, the Luminous Love of your Heart, to assess and reflect on the dissolving year. Reflect on yourself, your life, who you’ve been and how skillfully you’ve maneuvered the waves on life’s ocean. How did you receive your year, all the churnings of life, the blessings of what you wanted and the challenges you might not have consciously preferred or chosen?

The Yule Solstice is the threshold through which the cold birth of winter Ignites the Center, your dreams and wishes in the warm sanctuary within. We are called to plant the seeds of our intentions, prayers, dreams, and deepest longings to steep in the fertile embrace of your own heart. As days begin to grow longer towards the coming year, those germinating seeds emerge into expression in your outer life. The Universe will take you as far as you can imagine, dream and desire, and it will be even better than you can imagine if you allow it to unfold and align to the Divine Grace of Shakti. What will yours be? Who will you become by December 2012? What will your contribution have been and how will you have offered the gifts only you can offer? What is your vision for yourself, your community and the world? How and what will you do to help ensure the evolution of yourself, your vision and your world?

It is my deepest wish and prayer that in these times of intense planetary shift and inner journeying, we all can invoke our inner wisdom to make the best choices as visionaries moving fearlessly into the unknown. May you carry the teachings in your Heart, lighting your way, nurturing and cultivating your prayers, longings and intentions into beautiful New Year manifestations of beauty for yourself, your family, the Kula, and the planet, for the benefit of all Beings now and to come.

Big Solstice Blessings of Love, Joy and Bright Light from within for these Holy Days and every day throughout the coming cycle!

Luminous Love & blessings of the Maha Light to you always,

“Light is Love at rest, Love is Light in motion.” – Wah!

Energetically every aspect of our world is intensely stirring right now. I don’t know anyone with or without a spiritual practice who isn’t experiencing some sort of transformation, or some deep life transition, chosen or not. During times of challenge, deep intrinsic questioning of truth, life, love and what is meaningful is triggered. What is your vision for your life and your world? What do you want?

What if “following your Heart” meant the Universe would give you everything you want, even more, even if it doesn’t ‘look’ the way you think it should? For me, the hardest thing is always to figure out what I want. Once I do, the becoming and living it flows, and the result is always WAY beyond, bigger and better than my dreams. One key is the radical ‘yes’ to what is the Universe offering and then allowing your inner Guide to lead you in making choices that align with what is, what is being offered. It would mean you have to trust what the Universe is giving you, even if it looks different from how you think it might look, and trusting that your heart will lead you in the highest way. The more you do it, the greater your direct experience (anubhav) of aligning with Grace is, and it becomes easier to trust your Heart’s lead. If it scares you, do it.

When you let go and trust the inner Voice of your heart, your feelings, what lights you up, the manifestation of the co-creation is exponentially grander than your wildest dreams!

11.11.11 is the end and beginning of a new cycle. It is an open invitation to what will become the experience of your life. It is a clean slate, open mind and heart, unpainted canvas for the masterpiece of your life. It is another seam in time and space you can access Creative generative Power of the Universe, Shakti. Every moment is a point of power to co-create and envision of what can be from the vibrational platform of what is.

Your feelings with thoughts are the fuel for the vibrational Flow of the Universe of what is to come. Conscious co-creating happens from the momentary place of strong feelings. If you feel ‘good’ (‘good’ comes from Old English ‘God’) that is the vibrational match you will attract. If you feel fear, worry or other shadow emotions, you create what you don’t want, what you fear, opposite of good, opposite of what you want. (You create what you think about whether you want it or not.) You don’t have to know what it will look like, you just have to feel what it would feel like. It also needs to be in present tense, not in future, or it will just stay in the future.

For instance, ‘I feel happy that our world is coming together in greater harmony and peace, and the power of Love, even though the dissolution of what isn’t serving feels hellacious right now. I feel interconnected in service and love with my community and work. I feel soft and deeply connected to Spirit and in love, shared vision and intimacy with my partner and growing family. My roots feel anchored and at home everywhere. I trust Divine order and feel there is always enough for everyone. I feel abundance of wealth and vibrantly healthy and strong. I feel hope and pray for those who are suffering, lonely, sick and hungry, and they and all Beings find peace, love, happiness and freedom.’

Today, and everyday, sit. Let every moment, every breath be a point of Grace filled Power for the next cycle. Allow yourself to dream, pray and feel big. Affirm it in the present, as if it is, feel it, and then let it go. Allow the Universe give it to you, in Heart time, and it won’t look the way you think it should, it’ll be better.

If you follow your Heart, what you dream and pray for now, will seem small when you see what you’re offered. No dream or prayer is too big for your Heart, your Heart will never lead you astray.

At the beginning of my sadhana (path of Truth) or yoga journey, the moments of deep awareness came close together and there were many of them. It was a time of profound remembering of an ancient omniscience already present within, everyday rich with awakening. As the experience of time marches on, the moments of ultimate recognition become fewer and farther in between. That recognition that is beyond the knowledge that I am completely immersed in the Ocean of Consciousness at all times, but the actual direct experience (anubhav) of ‘“I Am” the Wave, Current, Ocean, those moments of Light and deep Awareness are often elusively concealed behind the left arm of Nataraja (Cosmic Dancer of Bliss), hidden in shadows of the forest dance of life’s day-to-day duties. This is the dance of concealment and revelation, forgetfulness and remembrance.

At any moment in the jungle of householder life there exists a possibility of stepping into sublime Light of remembrance between the shadows. Whatever awakens your Heart to Spirit is the Guru Principle, the revelatory power of Grace (anugraha).

Last night on a sunset walk in the Black Hills Forest of South Dakota, I took a detour off the beaten path for no reason, except ‘I wonder’ what was over that hill on that little jeep trail. The trail wound up a few hundred feet through the ponderosas, and all of a sudden poured into an enormous grassland sea etched in strewn wildflowers. It is a breathtakingly beautiful meadow bordered by the forest and hills Custer knew intimately. The meadow is always there just being for it’s own delight, the ground of Shiva, whether anyone is there to witness it or not. In its steady presence, Shakti is continually expressing a pristine wild beauty, the kind of western beauty cowgirls dream of.

The sun nestled behind the silhouetted needles casting a gentle hue over the wilderness only a sunset can offer. The power of the Goddess in the silent splendor thundered my heart and tears of deep reverence washed over my cheeks. I remembered,….again. Divine Beauty, Shri, and Grace is always there, a choice and the closest thing to me, and the closest thing to you.

Alignment matters, from my perspective, an Anusara perspective. When I’m in alignment, I feel happy, connected to my Self and the world, I feel free; when I’m out of alignment, I feel contracted, alone and stuck, not free.

As a yoga student in class, I want to know ‘why’ the teacher wants me to align in a certain way, and I want to know ‘to what’ or ‘to whom’ am I aligning? Kim artha, for what purpose, why? The ‘goal, reason, purpose’ of our practice is to awaken to and recognize Supreme Consciousness in ourselves, each other and all beings and things, sentient and non-sentient.

My lineage, (a lineage is considered when it’s teachers can be traced three generations back) is an “Align with the Divine” hatha yoga practice, Anusara. In Anusara, the ‘why‘ we align is to remember and express the highest part of ourselves, Divine Spirit, which is first the ‘to what’ we align to. We align to the Highest first, to the Divine.

Based on the premise that non-dual Supreme Consciousness is the case, (our Essence), the five bio-mechanical Universal Principles of Alignment

(UPA’s) are applied sequentially with balanced action in every pose. Our physical outer Material body aligns to our inner subtle Energy body, aka the inner manifestation of Divine Spirit that is both eternal, yet constantly changing and becoming us. This is the ‘how’ we Align to the Divine, with principles based on Nature, not rules dictated from outside. (Key = you can use the UPA’s to be in the Flow in every area of life…they work if you actually apply the knowledge!)

And of course there is ‘what’ are we doing? We are doing the physical hatha yoga practice as an expression of beauty and art, to awaken to and celebrate Ultimacy expressed as the multitudes of diversity.
This is what I love about alignment. It took the edge off me trying to transcend this life, trying to get to Oneness, trying to stop the inner currents, my vrttis, that would take at least a whole lifetime.

Because the UPA’s are universal they can work for anyone, they worked for me. As my teacher John Friend says, “Good Therapy is Good Alignment. When you align with Nature, healing happens.” Good alignment and any movement towards optimal alignment is healing. Anyone can actually do almost any pose to their fullest potential at that moment in time and feel better! Whether it is a 70 year old grandmother (or 50!) or a 25 year old man, anyone can experience an inner illumination and healing. The Heart’s desire plus good alignment and balanced action equals a opening that reflects the inner radiance in the outer form of the pose. The best thing about the alignment technique of Anusara (besides being relieved of pain and suffering) is doing it in a class with other people who share the same vision of CommonUnity and love for their world,.. our world, all of us creating art, beauty and love through yoga.

The benefits of good alignment from the Anusara perspective are innumerable. When there is good alignment in the physical postures the yogi heals, experiences her/his Essence, begins to recognize It in the outer world, experiences a greater vitality, is happier, starts loving life again and expresses her/him self in the world in a sweeter, kinder, nicer way, creating ripples, waves of loving kindness through the ocean of embodied time and space. If everyone would get their thighs back, the whole world would be a happier place! (I’m serious!)

In our tradition, it’s always the Highest first. The ‘iti sampradaya chara’ of good alignment (what it means to our lineage, according to us) is to awaken to the Source within, to recognize that we are the embodiment of Spirit, and we are here to awaken with each other. We are always connected to Spirit and each other. Ultimately, we become our own best Soul friend, (Gita 6:5) learn to love ourselves and love each other. This is the highest teaching, and this is why we ‘Align to the Divine’. Love….Now.

The closing day of Anusara Immersion One in Geneva came fast. It had built up to it’s peak, day five of five straight 7+ hour days, moving our bodies, cooling our minds and cooking our hearts together. A talented international group, Italy, France, Costa Rica, Greece, Spain, Switzerland, Israel, the UK and me, the American, were in the house. Three of them were somehow involved with the United Nations and everyone had their unique gifts to offer. Everyone spoke English, and of course the language of Love. The week ended in great awakening, love and friendships that will last a lifetime. Amazing Grace of the community, the kula, the family we choose to walk with on this path of awakening and love.

This Purna Huti (fullness of the Celebration) day, I had taught on the ways we meet challenge, and how we are always held in Grace, it is always there and at any moment we have the possibility of remembering and recognizing the ever presence of Spirit. This is anugraha, the revelatory power of Grace. We are never not connected to Spirit, our center, we just forget, it’s part of the deal of being embodied. We think we are separate and alone. The practices serve to awaken us to the ever presence of Grace, that we are held in Grace whether we recognize it or not. Grace holds us in our breath and in our heartbeat. With time, devotion and regular practice we recognize that we are an integral part of the Ocean of Consciousness, we are the very thing we seek, we are what the Universe is doing. With the knowledge and tools, we can choose how to best move in the flow of the Ocean, learn to get with what is going on in the flow of the Universe. Eventually, we become steady, anchored in a quiet content place, no matter how the Flow is going. We stay centered even when the waves are crashing and currents are thrashing. We learn how to respond from the highest place and make the highest decisions in the face of challenge. We become skillful at living a spiritual embodied life. That’s the plan.

We learn to stand steady in our Heart, our core, the madhya, instead of react by being consumed or running away. That is the teaching. Can you stand steady in your heart? Anchored in the teachings? Or do you let yourself be consumed, indulge in the problem or just run away? These are questions I ask myself over and over.

After an emotional Shakti-filled (full of energy) closing ceremony, most of the locals gave love and said goodbye. A few of the international guests and I headed out for a walk around Lake Geneva then dinner together.

The evening was stunning. The last summer rays blushed across wispy clouds, Mont Blanc glistening in the distant French Alps, Le Jet D’Eau shooting into the pale sky, families, lovers and tourists strolling along Lake Geneva’s malecón, soaking up the beauty. We were so lit up from the immersion, each other and the titillating ambiance we piled our yoga bags, day bags, and purses on a bench, and turned to the Lake to take photos.

Geneva and Switzerland as a whole is considered to have practically no crime compared to the rest of Europe. Practically being the operative word. While we were upside down and backs turned, a Bicycle Thief, (not the brew, not a thief of bicycles, but a thief ON a bicycle) buzzed by and snatched my purse. A couple of young Spanish girls alerted us and we all came down to see what was the commotion.

Sure enough my purse was gone. Passport, credit cards, money, iPhone and personal effects, GONE. Under my breath I said, “he stole my purse, oh this is not good.” It was especially not ‘good’ because I had a morning flight to Copenhagen and the thought of missing the workshop stirred me up. We all started milling around to see if we could spot the thief, as if maybe he was dumb enough to stick around, or maybe he would just toss it and we’d find it. Everyone’s face went from ecstatic to very long and somber. I reassured them I’d be fine and not to let this be a buzz kill. I seriously was waiting for the big panic, slug in the stomach, I’ve just been ripped off, sick feeling. What I did feel was the Shakti of my lineage, my teachers and the teachings holding me. The sun was setting, we hadn’t eaten, and there was definitely no sign of my purse or the bicycle thief.

We headed up the Rodeo Drivish lanes of Geneva towards the police station. As Grace would have it I had the kula, one of which was a beautiful French man to keep us grounded and make the police report in Frances. I kept waiting for the sinking feeling simultaneously reassuring everyone else everything would be fine. I was mostly worried about how I would get to Copenhagen the next morning. Clement gave the police the blow by blow in French, which made the whole thing seem kind of glamorous. The policeman, who looked younger than half my kids, explained that if I gave the report to the immigration at the airport, they would give me a temporary passport that I could travel the rest of my trip on. Not sure if it was the language difference, the fact he could have been one of my kids, or that we live in a fearful world beholden by bureaucratic red tape and how could anyone possibly travel across borders without a passport, I was incredulous to the thought of an easy passport fix in the morning.

After all the courtesies and reassurances of the Geneva police, we headed out looking for food. I had no money, credit cards, passport, iPhone, or any thing else, including that pissed off, sinking feeling. I was still waiting to be knocked off center. Instead, wonder, surprise and a bit of dred for all the work of canceling my life via Skype that evening and facing the airport officials in the morning was what the bhava (experience of the moment) was. After dinner when I ordered my coffee and realized they got my vanilla stevia and now I would have to drink my coffee with sugar! Bastards!

It was after midnight by the time I returned and started skyping the credit card companies. I canceled and changed passwords on everything I could think of and then packed for an early departure. I remembered I had a scan picture of my passport in my computer and emailed it to myself to print in the morning to take with me. At least I had that, and the 50 Swiss Francs a dear student gave me.

Sleep was not really in the plan, it never is when I’m teaching. The morning was one Gracefilled event after another. My beloved student/friend/apprentice showed up early. She is always like a sunbeam and I’m always happy to see her. We headed to the airport, and went straight to the police. Unfortunately, the original police dude was misinformed and the only emergency passport available was for Swiss citizens, and I was out of luck. I felt the beginnings of the panic, so I took a breath and we headed to the airline counter.

I went to the SAS customer service and got a very sweet helpful woman who called Copenhagen immigration, explained my story, hung up the phone and said, “okay, you can go. But you must get a passport in Copenhagen, because London won’t allow you in.” Whether it was shock or Shakti or both, I was overjoyed, and on my way to Denmark. Grace.

It was sunny and gorgeous when we landed in Copenhagen. Nanna, the gorgeous Danish goddess organizer for my trip, collected us (European, for picked us up) and I explained the story and that I needed the US embassy. “No problem, it is around the corner, 5 minute walk from where you are staying.” Grace, once again. We stopped on the way, they let me in, took the info in 10 minutes, told me to come back at 9:00 am and it would be taken care of. Where were the lines and bureaucrats?

Still no sign of panic or ungrounded insecurity surfaced. We arrived at the beautiful bright apartment, and I checked my email. There was a message from my son that someone had contacted his father in Mexico and said they have my purse in Geneva. The thief had taken the money and iPhone, leaving everything else and tossed the purse, which was found by a Mexican guy from Tijuana working in Geneva. After a few rounds of emails and Skypes, my purse was scheduled to be sent to the United Kingdom where I would be sure to meet it.

The entire event was one Gracefilled event after another. Even learning to travel for three weeks without credit cards and my iPhone was an opportunity to expand my perspective on resourcefulness too. For me the whole experience was a Lakshmi, (an auspicious mark of beauty). What could’ve been perceived as a Klesha, (stain or blemish, challenge) was ultimately a grand initiation for me. It was a process of my own recognition that the practices and teachings work, that I could be steady in the Madhya (midline, core, center of Being) in the midst of the churning Ocean. The waves crashed, currents raged, and I watched myself stand steady, neither being consumed or pushing away, just receiving what was. One event after another, I did my best to respond in the highest way I could at the time, trusting Grace, trusting everything held as Truth at my very core. What I found, my practices work, the teachings hold true.

I am held in my Heart, Grace (Samsara), with my Heart, with Grace (Anusara), steady in my Heart, steady in Grace (Abhysara). Grace. All this and I have my purse back, purple Shri Anusara Hearts dangling from it in delight, not to mention now I have to get the new iPhone.

Sunday is the perfect day to celebrate my teacher John Friend, as well as all my teachers who have illumined the horizon of my ignorance, even the ones I didn’t like! I don’t believe in coincidences and find it auspicious that an article written on John will be featured in this Sunday’s New York Times. The article went live online on Thursday, and I got a hold of it on Twitter. Between emails and household details, I read it with delight and happily retweeted, “Yes, We are the yoga of YES!’

The Yoga Mogul

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/25/magazine/25Yoga-t.html?_r=1&src=tptw

And then, the second word in the title, ‘mogul’, a no, and it kind of tweaked me. I love moguls on mountains under my boards, but this was not that kind of mogul. My favorite thesaurus offered me some solace. The writer had indirectly inferred that John is a “magnate, tycoon, VIP, notable, personage, baron, captain, king, lord, grandee, nabob, bigwig, big shot, big cheese, top dog, top banana, big kahuna, big enchilada.” I felt better, yet I preferred “Mogul=Open-hearted fire starter” offered from, yes, from a Facebook post. John is definitely an Open Hearted Fire Starter, and I decided I could go with ‘mogul’, another yes. I read on…

As I mulled over the Times’ Yoga Mogul discourse several times, I mentally argued with Mimi (the author of the NY Times article) about “what is she thinking!?”, another no. I wanted to rewrite the whole thing through my lense of ‘looking for the good first’ that would’ve been more reflective of the John Friend I know. Then I realized all press is good press. How could I expect anything less than a provocative, critical article from the New York Times? I watched Sex in the City, imagine if this was in the New Yorker! Being critical is what she is trained to do, it is her art and what she does. Our art is Anusara yoga. We are trained to look for the good, see beauty, even in the ugly, and say yes first. It is what we do and how we live.It is what the Mogul does and how he lives.

Contemplating the conversation, (yes, I personally turn in and contemplate) I figured out how to say yes to the things that irked me most in the article. This article taught me so much about the way the Matrika Shakti, (the power + the ‘little mothers’; speech, words that create) can stimulate feeling and emotion. That is what art is supposed to do, evoke something. You won’t necessarily ‘like’ it, but art evokes something. I’ll bet she and her boss are just kvelling over this piece. The New York Times wouldn’t be the NY Times without being critical… any more than John Friend wouldn’t be John Friend without charisma. John uses his charisma to evoke beauty, goodness and meaningfulness to life,..a not so exotic Sanskrit term known as Shri.

When I see a friend bust out an amazing vashisthasana (beautiful yoga pose, especially if they have really long legs!) or I see student do something they never did, my heart is touched. Even a beginner in handstand is art summoning up energy in motion at the deepest level. Anusara is art that expresses Shri. (Shri = beauty, life-affirming, value, abundance, goodness) The article was an expression of her art, not necessarily with a ‘goal’ of Shri. She did her job, what she is trained to do, write and evoke feeling, not that I have to like it. The column is an intellectual ‘discourse’. She is supposed to be critical and to create buzz and news, otherwise no one would read it except yogis.

Decision made, I won’t do a blow by blow argument of ‘yes’ against the decidedly critically skewed images Mimi chose to paint of my teacher. I am reminded that for time immemorial the greatest minds and beings, ideas, innovation, anything that goes beyond the accepted vibration and thought, is met with opposition, resistance, criticism, and betrayal. Apparently it is normal to be critical and resist change. After all, change can be uncomfortable. It is uncomfortable. The fact is that everything must evolve, even yoga.And the fact is that even the charismatic Mogul who pioneered this synthesized yoga for “21^st century-modern-householders” will be met with opposition and criticism. It is just the way it is, so I have to say yes, that is what I choose. It is first principle of Anusara Yoga. Open to Grace, say yes to what is and then make a choice how to respond. Even Mother Theresa has detractors, even Mother Theresa. I think she said something like ‘I won’t protest against the war, but I will stand for peace.’

Sunday, I will celebrate, remember and offer blessings to my teachers. It will be the Mogul Moon. My life and thousands of people’s lives have been radically transformed for the better because of John’s vision of goodness, his relentless service and dedication to his students, Anusara, and first and foremost to the Spirit of Yoga. I am humbled, honored and blessed for the privilege to share the wisdom teachings of Grace and Shri the “Open Hearted Fire Starter” has generously ignited in me and so many. I am grateful and hopeful that the seeds of Grace being planted in the hearts of so many people will grow into acts of compassion, love and kindness. I am hopeful that as the people shift, the leaders will shift, and as the leaders shift, the world will shift. We can’t know how far and wide the Anusara waves of beauty and love will ripple out for generations, but they will. Anusara is transforming the evolution of consciousness on the planet. The world is a better, brighter, more hopeful, beautiful place to be, thank you John Friend. Yes humble blessings of Grace and Gratitude to my dear teacher on this Guru Purnima.

Start with a yes and end with a yes. Yes to the press, after all, we are the yoga of YES!

Tragedy is an understatement. I lived on the gulf and remember the tragic regularity of red tide and oil covered beaches every summer in South Texas as far back as twenty years ago. What is happening now is beyond tragedy. It is a social travesty, long beyond FUBAR. It is the climax of years of lust, rape and exploitation of the feminine principle of Nature’s abundant beauty for our own greedy habits. We are living an ecological night terror, our dreaded wild imaginations, premonitions and fears playing out as reality. Any whistle blower’s protests, and green activism have long ago been smothered by political and corporate rhetoric B.S. muscling.

In Spanish, there is a saying, “No puedes tapar el sol con un dedo.” ‘You can’t cover the sun with a finger.’ Today, at the height of the northern hemisphere’s exhale, Father Sun explodes its masculine penetrating summer light dispelling rays of heat and light in all directions. The sun doesn’t discriminate where to shine, it just does what it does, shines fully reaching anywhere there is no finger blocking its radiance. Where there is an obstacle the beams of light expose the shadow, the dark side, exposing the finger, revealing the awareness that something is blocking the light. The feminine manifesting fullness of Mother Earth gladly receives his light, consummating the co-mingling of their summery tryst in a synchronized ecstatic exhale revealing the abundance of her natural beauty.

This Summer Solstice day, 2010, there is no beauty in the Gulf. The shadow cast is the shadow of the finger that is our very own. It is the shadow of choices we make, the way we consume, the way we don’t make ‘different’ choices, all the ways we as individuals are choosing to stick our fingers in the sky, pretending we can cover the sun with one finger.

Yes, the Gulf disaster is a disgusting expression of just how deeply unconscious our social collective Un-Conscious still is exactly that, un-Conscious. Yes, we should be outraged, and yes we can do something. This shadowy event can only be possible because there is light to cast and reveal this apocalyptic shadow.

As dark, scary, horrific and tragic this Gulf crisis is, there is simultaneously a growing awakening on the planet. Even in the face of the black death rippling across the the sea and wetlands, choking the life force from the diverse ecosystems and creatures in the path of this slimy reaper, there is hope, there is a yes. There has to be. I have to have hope. I have to say yes, even to the bloody f-ing oil spill. I have to say yes. This too has to be a threshold of awakening, this too is Grace, Fierce Grace as Ram Dass says. It is Grace in a Chapter -11-of- the- Bhagavad Gita- kind – of- way.

Yes, I have hope that everyone who sees the hideous images is mortified to their bones. I hope that it moves them in their gut, moves them to tears and haunts them to the point that when they pull up to the pump they remember the images, feel and recognize their responsibility and contribution to the crisis. I hope we drive less, ride and walk more, seek alternative sustainable options. I hope that every time I get into the car, buy a product, choose what to eat, where to shop and patronize, where to put my financial resources, energy and attention to, I remember my ability to respond and choose from the highest for the highest. I have to say yes, yes to me making a difference, me making every choice knowing that it will affect the whole, even if I can’t see it, or ever know the outcome.

I have to say yes, so I can say no. No more sticking my finger in the sky, no more pretending I can cover the sun. I say yes that I can make the highest conscious choice from the highest perspective, with the highest intention at any given moment. I have to say yes to making a difference in thought, word and action. If I can, anyone can. Cit happens, shift happens, and the sun will shine again tomorrow,.. I hope, in a ‘Chapter – Eleven – of – the – Gita’ kind of way.