sand.

the sand is fine, beautiful...
an uncomfortable yet delightful world 

exists right here, 

within my hand.

that hand wants to squeeze,
to grasp the sand...

hold it forever.
my mind feels 
the need to release.
so I practice.
palm wide and flat 
like a runway for a jetliner,
or a seashell in which 

sits a pure and precious pearl. 
some of the grains
pick up with the wind
and leave quietly, 
on their own.
some, more attached,
require the wind from my lungs,
who live next to my heart
and don't want to choose sides.
against their will,
they blow.
finally, the last specks,
some shiny, some dull, 
almost embedded in my sun shocked skin,
feel the cold assault
of the briny water 
and understand they too, 
must leave me. 

I know, somewhere,

certain small grains 

have hidden

within my hair,

or the lining of my suit...

places I cannot see

but will feel

at some point I least expect it.

let it be so.

Muscle, A Poem.

Fist sized little bundle...

of muscle, valves.

Always busy,

not for show, though.

Resting between beats

but laying it down.

Like the sledgehammer

of a great big man

driving the spike 

into the wooden sleeper. 

Boom…boom.

Boom...boom. 

Call & Response. 

How is it 

that this tiny bundle 

of muscle, 

not actually pretty,

wouldn’t stand 

in front of a mirror

reapplying its lipstick, 

(knowing it’s worth 

is beyond the visual.

Visual pretty only touching 

the hem of bliss,

pointing at it…

but not…even…close).

How is it that this

is the center of our feeling?

Of our desires?

Of our…

Love.

Rumi said lovers 

are like two lamps.

Their light blending 

into each other, 

never separate…

never truly one.

This is as it should be. 

How can it pump

blood 60,000 miles, 

beat without a brain,

without a body 

and still manage to 

give everything in this

little world meaning.

Power to the People.

Good morning world!

I woke up today to a post from my friend on my Facebook account. It was a quote from Glinda, the good witch of the North, "You had the power all along, my dear," which was absolutely perfect for a bunch of reasons but one is because anyone who knows me well, knows that The Wizard of Oz is one of my all time favorite movies.

My top 5 movies of all time...

1. The Wizard of Oz  2. Out of Africa  3. Moulin Rouge  4. Romeo and Juliet  5. Eat, Pray, Love

Just a side note.

Anyway, back to the story... I awoke to that post and also to a feeling of being okay with not having it all figured out anymore. Isn't it funny how this happens in life? We think we've got it all figured out and then...we don't. Actually, the funny thing is how we ever believed we'd had it all figured out in the first place.

What a silly concept. We are not God. We are perfectly imperfect human beings. So we can never have it all figured out 100%. We can know who we love, what we love, what we don't like and what we do for a living but sometimes even those things change. And if they do that can be really scary, but these things happen to show us another layer of who we really are.

So please, love yourself! I know that this sounds simple but so many people don't love themselves at all. Love yourself and then love life and people and animals and the colors of the sky in the morning. Love the feel of the breeze upon your skin while standing next to the ocean and feeling like your skin can actually taste the salt in the air. Love your dog snoring softly at the foot of your bed and your cat snuggled up on your chest, purring as if she wants to make your heart burst! Love the laughter of your friends and your family and just love everyone else in the world because, my dear, you do have the power.

We all have the power to love. To have our hearts broken sometimes. To question our change of careers but still jump and go for it. To help a loved one face their death while facing our own heart breaking because of it. To lose our beloved pets who are truly family to us and face the house when it is empty of their presence. You are strong enough to face all of the uncertainty and doubt and curves in the road. The tests and the signs... and sometimes taking too long to figure it all out. You do have the power, you have been groomed for this moment. It is yours, this sometimes hard but beautiful lesson. If you make a mess of it, stop and figure out what the lesson is and if you are avoiding it. Because there is always a lesson.

But first, love yourself because you are a beautiful and unique work of art that only exists in the form of you once in this world. Share that with the world, embrace it and love it in your own space and know that you do have the power.

In closing, I want to say thank God (in whatever form you choose to believe in God, remember, I am only a human and don't profess to have it "all figured out.") Thank God for people who support you through these times of figuring it out and laugh with you during the times when you have nothing in the world to worry about. Because we all will be the person who is helping someone face their death and at some point...we will all be the person who has someone helping us face our own in this beautiful, tough and very real cycle of life. We do have the power, but a lot of that power comes from sharing love with others who are special in our lives. Otherwise, why would Dorothy ever have left Oz to go back to Kansas?

xox.

Saying Goodbye/New Beginnings

Last night, I went to Studio Oxygen for Tara's final yoga class. She is moving to Florida and opening a brand new yoga studio and it sounds like she has a very bright yoga future ahead of her. Still, I imagine, it is hard to let go of the old, the familiar and the well loved yoga community she has woven for herself here in Ohio.


Tara is a phenomenal yoga teacher and even though I don't know her personally that well, I got a little teared up near the end for her. She led an amazing flow class and after Savasana (Corpse Pose) she told us how we had changed her life. This may sound hokey to some but as a yoga teacher I totally get it. You are privileged to be a part of these people's day or night when they slow down enough to come back to their breath and themselves, healing themselves, making themselves stronger, or more flexible and more at peace. That energy circulates around the room and you, as the teacher get to see it on their faces and in their bodies. You notice when they are uneasy with a stillness or when they are confident in a new pose. Tears are not uncommon here and neither are smiles. We definitely run the gamut in a good yoga class.


Tara has shared many moments on her yoga journey and though her path may be seemingly ending in Ohio, it's not true. The seeds that she has planted in people has changed their lives and so the journey continues onto places that she will never know, just like a river that flows does not know what it may give life to further down the way.


I am so happy to have found yoga. And I wish Tara the best and know that she has many more lives to touch!


Namaste.


E