With Awareness Comes Choice

And what dos this have to do with Yoga?   Well, everything has to do with Yoga, if you ask me. Feel free to connect the dots, if you see any.  Okay, I was riding my motorcycle to go hiking the day before Thanksgiving and yes I had my helmet on and yes I had my face shield down and NO, I was not wearing flip-flops this time.  I'm enjoying the ride at about 50 mph when WHAM, something stings my face.  Shocked that I didn't crash at this point and every hair on my body sticking up, I glance in the side mirror.  There is something black stuck to my face! Now, as my sister will tell you, I am the wimpiest tough girl she knows.  Trying not to wreck, I breath deeply and focus.  I take my hand under my face shield and swat away the black creature.  It doesn't move.  Shit!  My eyes focus back on the road- breath Pam, breath.  I need this thing off my face-NOW.  My hand returns under the helmet.  I touch it and swat harder. It fall...

"...........is for good men to do nothing."  Edmund Burke I have thought about and spoken this quote many times over the past twenty two years.  It is the one I pull out of my pocket most often when other references to the man himself have done little to solve the mystery of who, in fact, was Edmund Burke.  They usually nod and and go "oh yeah, I've heard that quote before."  Quickly moving on past British Parliament, I begin to brag about the institution itself.  But, I digress.  What I wanted to say is that when I have been thinking of this quote lately, what has come to mind for me is similar famous quotes:  "You gotta know when to hold 'em and know when to fold 'em, If you aren't part of the solution, you are part of the problem, and anything you can do, I can do better!"  Good lord Pam, where are you going with this?  Stay with me.  It has to do with passion, awareness and letting go of ego. The journey: When I started teachin...

I have been putting off writing this post for a few weeks and not quite sure why.  In fact, I was just about to click on Netflix when I decided that now was the time.  I wondered why now?  Was it the fact that I just got off Facebook and the last twenty something posts I scanned were Burke alumni or faculty OR was it the fact that it is Thanksgiving and Burke is up there in my top 3 reasons to be thankful OR was it the fact that when I Skyped my nephew in Afghanistan this morning and told him I would not be returning to Burke, he said "But you sure had a good time there, didn't you?", to which I replied "I grew up there Brian."  So now is the time to tell you about the rest of that conversation and to attempt to pay tribute to a special place that taught me, nurtured me and allowed me to grow......and continues to support that growth, even in absentia. This has the potential to be a very long piece as I spent 22 years of my life at Burke and could not possibly...

November 23, 2011 CULTIVATING THE GROUND FOR JOY How do we cultivate the conditions for joy to expand? We train in staying present. In sitting meditation, we train in mindfulness and maitri: in being steadfast with our bodies, our emotions, our thoughts. We stay with our own little plot of earth and trust that it can be cultivated, that cultivation will bring it to its full potential. Even though it’s full of rocks and the soil is dry, we begin to plow this plot with patience. We let the process evolve naturally.

Without Internet or television my first two weeks I found myself thoroughly reading the Tucson Weekly or at least thoroughly perusing the "weekly happenings" section.  The last page, like many top quality newspapers, included both a crossword and Sudoku puzzle.  I decided to start with Sudoku.  Unlike the Sudoku for Dummies puzzles that can be found in the master bathroom of my home in Silver Spring, this one was by Will Shortz (NY Times Crossword Puzzle dude) and was given 4 out of 5 stars indicating a significant level of difficulty.  While not Mensa status, I ain't no dummie.  So, I sat down and got busy.  Scanning the puzzle rather quickly, I assumed at least one number would be a gimmie.  I scanned again.  And again. And again. Then, I scanned more slowly.  And again.  And again.  Are you freaking kidding me...not one gimmie???  So I stared really hard; went north to south, east to west, 1-9 and from 9-1.  Nothing!...

I sat down to write an entry before heading out on a hike and opened my e-mail first.  I thought that I had already unsubscribed to the horoscope portion of Daily Om but obviously I did not.  Good thing because I literally could not have said it better.  Om, Om and AUM! Promise of the Journey Leo Daily Horoscope Daily Om "You may feel meditative today, with a desire to reflect and ponder your life journey. You may be questioning your spiritual path or considering some new goals to add a greater sense of fulfillment to your life. If you can set aside some quiet time to honor this calling, you should be able to expand your awareness and discover valuable insights about yourself. One thing you may want to remember is that you don't need to have all the answers today. While you can certainly begin exploring your thoughts and feelings and thinking more about your dreams for the future, you can also embrace the process of personal discovery and savor each step of the jou...

Sister: So what do you do all day?  Me:  Yoga, Walk Bella, Meditate, Read, Ride my motorcycle. Sister: Sounds like a vacation. Me: What did you think I was going to be doing? Sister:  I don't know...I thought you had a mission? This is an excerpt from the conversation I had on the phone with my sister, Theresa, yesterday...or the day before, they all feel the same right now.  I laughed, kind of a nervous laugh, before saying something like "my mission is the same as it has been all along; spend the year exploring new opportunities, study more yoga and seek to be as emotionally, mentally and physically healthy and happy as I can be.  Oh, and to check out new climates and areas along the way...thus, the reason I'm in Tucson right now."  Truth be told, it gave me another opportunity to reconnect with what I am doing here, having made it through me first week...fairly unscathed.   I say fairly unscathed because it has been challenging for sur...

Even though I am still a baby blogger,  I think it is fair to say that each time I have sat down to write a blog entry, a title has immediately come to me.  Not today.  However, in the middle of meditation this morning and then again during noon yoga, two brilliant ideas came to me.....but I was in the middle of meditating and yoga class, without a computer.  Go ahead, insert joke here.  Anyhow, by the time I made it to my new favorite coffee shop in the middle of Tucson ( Sparkroot ) I was out of ideas.  So, I decided to just go simple today and tell you about my journey: •Left DC on 10/26 with my good friend Maia, my shih-tzu Bella, my motorcycle (still to be named) and whatever would fit in my car. •Over 4 days we crossed Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee, Arkansas (insert joke here...or I will), Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Arizona and landed in Tucson on Saturday, 10/29. *Pretty important piece of information here; my first motorcycle trailer bi...