Diane and I spent a really relaxing and interesting day at a yin yoga and poetry workshop here in manchester vt. Its only a 3 min walk from our fromt door .. which was a good thing since it was 17 degrees F this morning
The workshop is being led by Diane’s old friend bif and his co-leads eric and kristen. Eric is a womderul musician and added drum, flute and guitar as sound tracks for our day
We had expected it to be mostly yoga with the occasional poem.. but it was the opposite. Each person was supposed to have brought a poem to recite from memory. Neither diane or I had the time to memorize.. but we had some we liked .. diane brought the guesthouse by Rumi.. I brought “I worried” by mary oliver.. but I switched to “always we hope” by lao tzu ..
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they are a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice.
meet them at the door laughing and invite them in.
Be grateful for whatever comes.
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.
Always We Hope — Lao Tzu
Always we hope
someone else has the answer,
some other place will be better,
some other time,
it will turn out.
This is it.
No one else has the answer,
no other place will be better,
and it has already turned out.
At the center of your being,
you have the answer:
you know who you are and
you know what you want.
There is no need to run outside
for better seeing,
nor to peer from a window.
Rather abide at the center of your being:
for the more you leave it,
the less you learn.
Search your heart and see
the way to do is to be.
Abide at the center of your being.
This afternoon we all worked together to construct a class for tomorrow.. we worked to pair our chosen poems with the yin poses bif had selected.. that took a good long time..
We broke for a couple of hous this evening for dinner at a nearby burmese restaurant owned by a friend of bifs.. it was really good..
While we were her.. a project id helped on was going on at generator. My friend lena led a group of families through a project to make heart shape memorial stones remember opioid victims. My friend pike and I made the stamps used to put the url http://allourhearts.com on the back.. the families then wrote The loved ones name on the front , I just heard from lena that it worked well !
I was so happy to hear that it worked out so well !
Nite all, nite sam
-me