Though I started off in a sitting meditation stance, as I began I realized that today needed an active meditation. I did a sunflower/moonflower flow, still chanting on the inhale and exhale. (forgive the terrible pictures of the yoga poses, they're the best I could quickly find.)
To me, this poem is about expression, joy, pain, love, and most of all, living to the fullest.
Each Note
Advice doesn't help lovers!
They're not the kind of mountain stream
you can build a dam across.
An intellectual doesn't know
what the drunk is feeling!
Don't try to figure
what those lost inside love
will do next!
Someone in charge would give up all his power,
if he caught one whiff of the wine-musk
from the room where the lovers
are doing who-knows-what!
One of them tries to dig a hole through a mountain.
One flees from academic honors.
one laughs at famous mustaches!
Life freezes if it doesn't get a taste
of this almond cake.
The stars come up spinning
every night, bewildered in love.
They'd grow tired
with that revolving, if they weren't.
They'd say,
"How long do we have to do this!"
God picks up the reed-flute world and blows.
Each note is a need coming through one of us,
a passion, a longing-pain.
Remember the lips
where the wind-breath originated,
and let your note be clear.
Don't try to end it.
Be your note.
I'll show you how it's enough.
Go up on the roof at night
in this city of the soul.
Let everyone climb on their roofs
and sing their notes!
Sing loud!
Today's mantra: Be. Shine!
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Jan 2
I sought out this poem as it was especially apt for me this morning. I was thinking about and longing for old friends, feeling the loss of them. This poem reminded me that, just like happiness, sadness is passed from person to person.
Sometimes I Forget Completely
Sometimes I forget completely
what companionship is.
Unconscious and insane, I spill sad
energy everywhere. My story
gets told in various ways: a romance,
a dirty joke, a war, a vacancy.
Divide up my forgetfulness to any umber,
it will go around.
These dark suggestions that I follow,
are they part of some plan?
Friends, be careful. Don't come near me
out of curiosity, or sympathy.
Today's mantra: Feel the sadness. Accept release.
Sometimes I Forget Completely
Sometimes I forget completely
what companionship is.
Unconscious and insane, I spill sad
energy everywhere. My story
gets told in various ways: a romance,
a dirty joke, a war, a vacancy.
Divide up my forgetfulness to any umber,
it will go around.
These dark suggestions that I follow,
are they part of some plan?
Friends, be careful. Don't come near me
out of curiosity, or sympathy.
Today's mantra: Feel the sadness. Accept release.
Friday, January 1, 2010
Jan 1
Who Says Words With My Mouth?
All day I think about it, then at night I say it.
Where did I come from, and what am I supposed to be doing?
I have no idea.
My soul is from elsewhere, I'm sure of that,
and I intend to end up there.
This drunkenness began in some other tavern.
When I get back around to that place,
I'll be completely sober. Meanwhile,
I'm like a bird from another continent, sitting in this aviary.
The day is coming when I fly off,
but who is it now in my ear who hears my voice?
Who says words with my mouth?
Who looks out with my eyes? What is the soul?
I cannot stop asking.
If I could taste one sip of an answer,
I could break out of this prison for drunks.
I didn't come here of my own accord, and I can't leave that way.
Whoever brought me here will have to take me home.
This poetry. I never know what I'm going to say.
I don't plan it.
When I'm outside the saying of it,
I get very quiet and rarely speak at all.
-
We have a huge barrel of wine, but no cups.
That's fine with us. Every morning
we glow and in the evening we glow again.
They say there's no future for us. They're right.
Which is fine with us.
Today's mantra: Wonder. Be.
All day I think about it, then at night I say it.
Where did I come from, and what am I supposed to be doing?
I have no idea.
My soul is from elsewhere, I'm sure of that,
and I intend to end up there.
This drunkenness began in some other tavern.
When I get back around to that place,
I'll be completely sober. Meanwhile,
I'm like a bird from another continent, sitting in this aviary.
The day is coming when I fly off,
but who is it now in my ear who hears my voice?
Who says words with my mouth?
Who looks out with my eyes? What is the soul?
I cannot stop asking.
If I could taste one sip of an answer,
I could break out of this prison for drunks.
I didn't come here of my own accord, and I can't leave that way.
Whoever brought me here will have to take me home.
This poetry. I never know what I'm going to say.
I don't plan it.
When I'm outside the saying of it,
I get very quiet and rarely speak at all.
-
We have a huge barrel of wine, but no cups.
That's fine with us. Every morning
we glow and in the evening we glow again.
They say there's no future for us. They're right.
Which is fine with us.
Today's mantra: Wonder. Be.
Beginnings
My project for the year is to meditate once a day, every day. Realistically, I know I'll probably miss a few, but that is okay- part of accepting yourself is accepting your failings as well. Also, I wont necessarily post a blog for every day, but I'll do my best.
Notes on meditation:
Meditation (to me) is a state of quiet understanding of yourself, your mind, and your surroundings. It takes different forms for different people, but I like to sit with my legs folded, hands on my knees, and eyes closed. It begins with steady breathing, concentrating on the sound and feeling of the inhale and exhale. I often link words to the inhale and exhale- the most basic is just an "Om," but my favorite fallback is "Breathe - Release." I know I have reached a meditative state when my body feels heavy but my mind feels light, and everything else fades except my breath. I like to hold this state as long as I feel I need.
This year, I will be beginning my meditations with a poem by Rumi. If I feel so led, I will choose my meditative words from that day's poem.
The poems come from The Essential Rumi, translated by Coleman Barks, New York: HarperCollins, 1995.
Notes on meditation:
Meditation (to me) is a state of quiet understanding of yourself, your mind, and your surroundings. It takes different forms for different people, but I like to sit with my legs folded, hands on my knees, and eyes closed. It begins with steady breathing, concentrating on the sound and feeling of the inhale and exhale. I often link words to the inhale and exhale- the most basic is just an "Om," but my favorite fallback is "Breathe - Release." I know I have reached a meditative state when my body feels heavy but my mind feels light, and everything else fades except my breath. I like to hold this state as long as I feel I need.
This year, I will be beginning my meditations with a poem by Rumi. If I feel so led, I will choose my meditative words from that day's poem.
The poems come from The Essential Rumi, translated by Coleman Barks, New York: HarperCollins, 1995.
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