About Awards & Gratitude

Photo by Manish Doshi

As I sat down to create my weekly Monday post, I checked into my heart for what wanted to be expressed during this week of ThanksGiving. I realized that Gratitude has been my drug of choice in life – I trace back the infinite blessings of my life to this gift of Gratitude that sometimes blooms with joy and sometimes is a practice of cultivation that reproduces joy unfailingly.

I checked for how and for whom I want to express gratitude today. Of course, for this community that literally buoyed my being for these many years now, and also something unique happened. I realized that I feel a new sense of gratitude for someone who I have often neglected most. Now I feel quite audacious to say – Myself. But honestly, and humbly that is what came to me – I am grateful for myself for all of who I have become.

Now how should I convey this? – I asked, perhaps hoping to be redirected to something else. It was a pleasant surprise when I was guided to this Liebster Blog Award post from when I was 5 months into blogging in February 2016. I did not have readers yet, but this kind blogger acknowledging and encouraging me meant the whole world to me.

I wish to share with you all today, kind friends, my response post to that award. It felt so good to have a glimpse into myself from when I was in this space kind of innocently, not knowing what blogging meant. To see not much has changed truly, in spite of the fact that I feel like a whole new person since then.

I remember so tickled from getting asked questions about myself – it was an unfamiliar and amazing window to look at myself through. This is the only blog award I responded to, going award-free thereafter. Here it is :)))

11 facts about me:

1. I believe magic exists in everyday unfolding.
2. I love rain.
3. I love driving in the rain alone.
4. I like the crunch of walking on fallen leaves.
5. I love the sunshine in lukewarm weather.
6. I can watch waves crashing for hours.
7. I think every single thing that comes my way is relevant.
8. A coffee and a great conversation is time spent well to me.
9. I enjoy creating different styles of outfits.
10. I am passionate about seeing life transformations.
11. I have spent a lot of time playing board games with my sons.

Answers to the 11 questions given to me:

1. If you could live back in time when and where would you choose and why?
Hmmm …Actually I am feeling perfect where I am, so given a choice I would like to stay right now and here 🙂

2. What do you think will be the greatest invention in the future
Don’t know really …

3. What is the best t.v. show in your opinion?
I don’t watch t.v. much … have loved Friends in the past and now occasionally enjoy Big Bang Theory.

4. What book have you enjoyed the most?
Difficult to pick one … Power of Intention by Dr. Wayne Dyer, I was young and this book felt powerful…

5. Who was your favorite teacher and why?
My first yoga teacher in US, he always helped me see the truth in me, in a very un-authoritative manner.

6. Which parent influenced you the most and how?
Not sure about this actually …by now every interaction has become an influence.

7. How do you think we can contribute to peace?
By cultivating peace within, it can be very contagious!

8. What do you think is man’s greatest achievement?
In my small reality, this virtual world that connects people across the earth, is an amazing achievement.

9. What do you think is man’s worst behavior?
Acting in harmful and untruthful ways, going against joy …their own and others.

10. What do you like to do for fun?
Listen to songs, chat with friends and laugh with them.

11. If you could travel into space where would you go?
Far enough to take a look at Earth as a whole and then back!

Thank you for traveling with me and my words till here, THANK YOU is all I can say truly and deeply. Happy Week of Giving Thanks!

P.S. Thank you to my husband for the amazing fall picture that I used at the beginning.

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You are Here, Awake & Alive

There is subtle calibration of life processes that keep us going at our optimal, or become out of balance. It may show up in our ability to stay calm or feel overwhelmed in turmoil.

How do we access that calibration? How do we access the unmoving stability, strength, focus, ease of our being when surrounded by chaos, confusion or challenging life experiences that seem to be real and unreal at the same time.

The capacity to bridge & reach the unmoving stillness within, from all the unrelenting movements around and the mixing up of what is normal and the new normal – how do we explore the edges of this capacity?

One way for me is through a breath-oriented yoga practice in which the breath is invited to stay long and smooth no matter what posture, and move only in co-ordination with that breath. It is a distinctly different effort for the body and mind. It helps us explore our individual patterns of how we add stress to our being and bring more awareness, consciousness, calibration for optimal functioning. The result is a sense of calmness and clarity. The more consistently I practice, sooner I am able to get back to balance, each time I lose it.

Above pictures are from a Healing Trail I walked with 2 of my meditation friends – We walked with prayer and intention for all our families, brothers and sisters from India who are in such deep suffering with losing loved ones on a daily basis. We expressed humble gratitude for this blessed opportunity to get to walk on this planet, be together in that moment – “You are here awake and alive” – we have that available preciously in each moment Now. I chose to share just these out of a lot more such markers on this trail, because I connected with these the most on this day. I feel a sense of spaciousness after walking this trail, within me and around me along with being connected to everything and everyone.

Perhaps go back and look at the pictures again, peer through them if they can give you the peace.

P.S. If you are curious, check out my yoga website : www.YogaSaar.com

Impossible

Photo by myself

The Impossible Just Takes A Bit Longer

Much of life that I live today are seemingly craziest, weirdest thoughts that I kept repeating to myself to the point of absurdity even. So many regular simple moments now were a distant dream of the past. If I pay attention truly, each day is a celebration of some evolution and manifestation. It helps me trust and dream bold. Without the yearning to be anywhere different than where I am. And of course at times I get impatient with the next dream. Then I remind myself to look for places I am not paying attention. To find gratitude for prayers answered and desires fulfilled. I love the feeling when I find it, again and again. I love being in the moment, as if I am living a dream.

On a visit to a beach close by, early November 2020, I picked up a stick and asked the ocean to guide my hands to carve words as messages, to move forward into the days ahead. I kept my mind clear as I watched the words appear. The above image – ‘Trust’ was the first to appear. The next 2 were as below.

Photo by myself

Photo by myself

I then stood there silently and watched the waves wash over some words partially. The ocean surely washed away those messages after I was gone – they are now a part of me and part of the ocean. I continue to wish, dream and trust happily.

Wishing you my kind friends on WordPress and dear readers a very optimistic, fulfilling, enriching, peaceful, healing New Year 2021!

Note: I will get back to visiting your beautiful posts that I enjoy heartfully after Jan 4. I apologize for not being able to take time now and any delay in my responses if they happen.

Everyday Warrior

Yesterday while walking along the ocean, the fallen woods called me to play on them and I found myself an experience of the strength and spaciousness of The Warrior. The strength felt is a very subtle inner power.

The warrior may have an ocean of emotions churning within, the warrior allows space for them. The ground the warrior stands on may not be wide or is a shaky one. The warrior has strong grounding through the legs and open arms to receive to the fullest – the breath and from life itself.

Later in the day I found myself contemplating- what does Yoga mean to me?

Yoga is about:

• cultivating positive energy and joy for our daily life.
• dropping the effort and developing the skill and focus for everyday ease.
• building our ability to sustain our productivity and functions for the long term.

The postures and movements may or may not be physically challenging for you. The effort is in the attention to cultivate a long smooth breath, that gives us the ability to be balanced in our body and mind. It helps cleanse the effects of stress and pain, physical and emotional.

The challenge is in maintaining focus of attention where it is required, often true even in our daily life. Yoga trains our mind for that focus, and to meet challenges with clarity & skill.

P.S. This post is a contribution to ForgivingFridays of ForgivingConnects.

Moments

Photo Credit: Vikram Phale

Make Your Choice Today!

Each Moment Is Yours to Create & Enjoy!

Live Life One Moment at a Time!

 

PS : I received a request to create a Good Morning image, with a positive message for the day. I enjoyed making this one, on a photo clicked by my photographer friend. Let me know how you liked it and save/share the image if you want to.

 

Ripples & Space

Photo : Manish Doshi, Editing : Vikram Phale

Just Being
In the body
With the mind
No turmoil
No need
No hurry
No worry
No concept
No boredom
No ecstacy
No fantasy

Just Being
In the body
With the mind
No stillness
No movement
No silence
No sound
No reality
No dream
No solitude
No relations

Just Being
In the body
With the mind
No clarity
No confusion
No plan
No action
No knowledge
No ignorance
No buoyancy
No resistance

Just Being
Space
Allowance
Contained
Content
Blank
Ripples

Just
Space
Behind the mind

Just Space

Space

 

 

Yoga – My Life & Work

Let it unravel …

I just recently started using images on my blog. This photo from a personal trip led me to revisit this poem from about a year ago. As if they belonged together 🙂 While it would be a repeat to some of my blogger friends, I gave in to the strong temptation of a reblog of this poem with it’s new-found image. Look forward to having your thoughts 🙂

Infinite Living

Elusive illusion
Desolate delusion

Overthinked opinions
Painful ponderance

Evergrown emotion
Sullen stupefaction

Managing memories
Feeling felt-sense

Blocked blight-head
Heavy heartache

Perpetually present
Adamant attachment

Sneakingly seething
Desired detachment

Tired tenacity
Silent sanity

Lingered longing
Lifetime’s lugging

Dissatisfied destiny
Emerging epiphany

Liquefying lament
Braving boredom

Releasing resistance
Teasing tangles

Identified intention
Trickled tune-in

Soothing simplicity
Soul seeking

Benign being
Breathing n Being

Rising resourceful
Juicy joyful

Wakened wisdom
Amazing alignment

Mindful miracle
Iterant infinitum

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Finding My Balance

Golden Sunrise at Sea by Atanu Chakraborty

I find a place…for my elbow to rest on. A platform that is a good space to give me relief. My elbow finds balance on a solid surface, my head rests in my palm sideways. My mind finds some moments of peace.

The platform turns out to be a floating piece. It starts to shift, putting my elbow and my rest, out of balance. I could rely on it but only for a while.

Pulses of life, stir through the surroundings of the iceberg where I was resting my elbow. The solidity of the iceberg now seems shaken.

Shock of the coldness hits my face as the elbow slides off. I am thrown out of my comfort space.

I have been seeking concepts and beliefs and relations and interactions to depend on, for balance. To rely on, when challenged. Only to find out that they are all floating icebergs.

Lean on anything a bit too much, and you plunge into the cold deep abyss of the sea of truthful revelations, eventually.

Some icebergs are memories that we escape to. Trying to find any semblance of joy or pleasure or balance or support that we felt at a different time. As all icebergs, this one too, serves only for a while.

I have sought it in persons and relationships sometimes. Only that I am an iceberg for others too, sought out to balance some need in them. Oftentimes, each ends up blaming the other iceberg, for not staying steady and still, for them to lean on.

I decide to walk on to dry grounds, with none of the unreliable icebergs around to entice me. There are trees to rest under and the lush grass on solid ground, looks fulfilling. I will now depend on the nurturing Mother Earth to hold me, to support me. I find rest in the shade under a vibrant tree.

It seems like I have found my solace and semblance of balance that I can finally rely on. Only until …the winds start howling and the skies turn dark and shower me with piercing drops of revelations, leaving me drenched in the cold again.

Sometimes it wasn’t even the furious weather that left me all lost on the face of the planet. My own thoughts could create a tornado within, that left me as if, there is no ground to stand on.

“Where do I really rest? Mother Earth! Where on earth can I just rest?” I cried in despair, kneeling down with my head hung low.

Mother Earth, as if smiled, while continuing her own journey through the void, around the sun, not knowing what, comets and storms and humans, might hurl at her, at any time.

Nothing seems to be at rest. Relentless movement. We go on while coloring our perception with the illusion of support and stability.

At times, memories of someone and the conversations, color our days or months. Giving a sense of balance to the emptiness in the place we call home. The home that stands on the compassion of the planet and it’s time bound stability.

There are times I am totally present with those physically with me. And I become aware of the hurricanes within them, uprooting my sense of balance.

I also often become dependent on other people for my soul nourishment and direction to my human mind. Every time I become completely dependent, that iceberg plops under.

In my sane mind I realize that they have gone away seeking their own nourishment, or might have faltered their own of self depletion. In my human mind I sometimes blame them for not being there for me anymore.

After many such hurricanes and toppling under of icebergs, I finally realize there is this vast ocean of space within me. The more I dive into the center of it, the more stability I find.

I begin to sit with myself more often, without leaning.

I feel more grounded as I allow a deep breath in, into the expansiveness of my being, and empty it out from the core of my being, as softly and smoothly as I can. The more I rely on my own ability, to glide on the current of the life force, flowing through me with the breath, the more rooted I get in the stability of my own being. The platform I lean on is not tangible yet so plausible.

A sense of trust and surrender and choices of possibility and tremendous courage, gives me an easy resolve of steadiness, and the experience of innate balance.

I wobble at times, escape into known comforts sometimes, fear the unknown darkness sometimes, and then find my balance again, as I recognize it all for what it is.

The darkness is pure nothing until I fill it with something. Its spirit is illuminated with each breath and awareness that comes. The silence is rich with the knowing and the perceiving and the feeling that guides me, unless it is purely divine silence.

A warmth develops within me, that balances out the coldness of any sharp revelations. It flows through me, which feels like love in some form or kind.

That’s how, I find my center and balance, time and again, until I fall off, time and again …

 

Originally published in This Glorious Mess on Medium

Silent Reflection

Photograph by Pragalbha Doshi

This silence
This silence today
It is a rich one

This silence
This silence in this moment
It is full

This silence
This silence right now
It is empty

This silence
This silence quiet
It is a new one

Heart feels to the brim
Soul seeks nothing
Wisdom knows, this is no whim

My existence wants to stay still
Not reaching nor releasing
Words any don’t suffice or fulfill

All lessons learned until
Are to be made into living
There is no sense of striving

Being with myself isn’t excruciating
Yet this silence is something
That would want to unload some desiring

This silence
This silence today
It is revealing

There is indeed
A contentment underneath
A clarity from without and within

On Acceptance

Accept EVERYthing wholly.

Only in the present moment.

Never Ever Forever.

Then

CHANGE IT!

P.S. Happy Yoga Day! May this day inspire moments of awareness for you.