OMG. A few weeks ago, I was asked to speak at TEDx Asheville. I nominated myself months ago, hoping and also frightened to be chosen. I’m going to speak about The Earth Pledge of Allegiance. Honored doesn’t truly describe the feeling I have. It is more than that. It is a dream showing itself in a different manner than I had expected and planned for. To make God laugh, tell him or her your plans. It’s funny when things start happening that you’ve dreamed about. Read the rest of this entry »

For about a month now, my son and his family have been living with me while they find a place of their own after moving here to Asheville from Aspen. It is a dream come true, a miracle to have them here in my town. Two out of my three children now live here with their families. After living alone for most of the last 11 years, it is wonderful to have a houseful. (read previous blog posting…) However…

One little thing changes everything. I’ve been feeling scattered, having shifted my own life around to accommodate their needs. It’s what a mama does. Instead of teaching yoga in my home studio, that studio is now my graphic studio space and I teach my students in a yoga studio downtown. I struggled with this change internally. It felt like I was losing some part of me. Yet after making the change I feel fresh and ready to let my life unfold from here. Change, though sometimes pretty uncomfortable and hard to see the benefit of an unknown outcome, is a catalyst for growth and if we aren’t growing we aren’t living…and vice versa.

It’s been over a month since I wrote here last. Skipping through all that has happened, I land here today with a new household full of people I love. My son, his wife, 2 year old baby girl and their Golden Retriever have moved to Asheville and are staying with me until they find a place of their own. It reminds me of the story of the man (let’s call him KuKu) who goes to his guru for advice… Read the rest of this entry »

I am well aware that back in the 1950’s, I might be a candidate for being put away in a sanitarium. I left my husband of 26 years, moved to a little hippie town in the Blue Ridge mountains, starting smoking pot, flew out to Oregon to adopt a dog, left 90% of my worldly possessions and moved to Arizona to be with my daughter who was pregnant, spent all my money and worried constantly about making more, being attracted to men years younger than myself, becoming a yoga teacher and vegetarian, authoring an inspirational, spiritually-oriented website daring people to dream and live their dreams, doing it myself.

Yep, I might have been committed. Perhaps it is this town in particular but I believe that it is happening everywhere. People are waking up to what has happened to our world under our watch. We are leaving a legacy of crooked politicians, corporations, wars fought for fabricated reasons to achieve a goal of ultimate power. People who have behaved badly. We let them, if we were not one of them.

So now what to do? Do we stand by and shake our heads as oil spews into the Gulf. It is too sad to go into all the ramifications. Who are we to mess with another beings habitat? To not ensure the greatest safeguards to keep their home safe. I read an article that said that during the Bush administration a decision was made not to enforce that upon our offshore oil rigs. It saved the companies several million dollars, and this disaster will cost them many billion, along with the deep guilt and despair. I hope the people of those oil companies and those who enabled them, oh which might include us who fill up our cars with $3 a gallon gasoline and enjoy the freedom that provides.

Where have our voices been? Why have we been so silent to let it get so out of hand? Please wake up. Please. Those of us who have been need you to come along too. We need greater numbers of people who are willing to be considered crazy to go against the norm. The norm is ridding our planet of one species at a time, one ecosystem at a time.

Are you thinking “what can I do about it”? It seems an awesome task to turn this ship around. The Renaissance was only 1000 people. We turned the world around then. We can turn it around now. Please join me and, I’m hoping, millions of others around the planet. Wake up and smell the smothering, burning oil in the Gulf, the blood on the battlefields in cities, towns , villages and neighborhoods all over the world. We are killing each other and those that get in the way of that intention.

So what can we do as individuals? We can speak out. Talk about this with your friends and your neighbors. Start a conversation. What you bought at the mall conversation can wait another day. It’s time to ensure there will be another day for someone somewhere. People are starving and we go to McDonalds and eat food kills our bodies[1].

What stops you? I think about what has stopped me and that is fear of rejection. Fear that my children will think I am insane. Fear that others will consider me someone to fear. A general nature of fear, which I have been shedding over this lifetime. I have held a fear of being found out to be the person I have been trying to hide. No one hides for real, only creates a feeling of distrust for a person who doesn’t seem congruent. Something is off. We are the last ones to see ourselves, which is a pity. Enjoy who you are. Be who you are. It is oh so much more than enough.

This is the last week of April, 2010. Where did this month go? That seems to continue to put people into an awe state…time moving so very quickly. Is it a result of getting older and having so much left to do when it is extremely possible that most of our days are behind us? Or is it across the board, younger and older alike who are experiencing the swift movement of the days? I’d like to know.

Recapping my own month is a habit as I near toward the end. I normally measure it in “how much money did I make this month” because I am keenly aware of the following month’s bills coming due. Oh, I know that success is not measured ultimately in dollars and yet it is what allows us to function in this world. Some days it is enough to simply have enough, though I am most happy when it comes through doing something I love doing.

This month’s end finds me physically tired. It’s been lovely to begin working in the yard, planting new and rearranging old. It also adds to my plate of things to do and my perception of so little time is reflected in the chaos of my house and car interiors. There are things left out that I hope to eventually find a home for, either in storage or recycling or (last resort) trash. Those things pile up while I am taking care of the immediate. It seems I am simply moving from one task to the next and not making any headway, though I suppose I can turn that look around and see that the fact that I am continuing to work as headway. This time last year I was borrowing money to make it through the month of April and May. Feels very good to be handling it well myself this year. That’s headway.

Money aside, what kind of headway have I made? This has been a month of growth in the relationship department. My son and his family have made plans to move here from Aspen and they will stay with me for a moment as they find their own home. I’ve been cast in a play that revolves around my character. The drama off-stage rivals that of on…relationship building. Some stronger steps are being taken to express myself in truth to my myself, which is easily the norm rather than not now. Headway.

The world seems to be truly shaking things up this month. So many earthquakes, volcano. It is becoming the norm to see that there has been yet another large earthquake causing devastation in someone’s life. We are becoming numbed out by the tragedies, so much so that we must shake ourselves and remind ourselves to be grateful for what we have right now.

Yesterday my daughter and granddaughter were driving through an intersection on a green light when a woman did not notice her own red light and crashed into my daughter’s car. When seeing the car coming at her, my daughter’s instinct was to turn and look at her own daughter in the car seat. My heart turns to a puddle when I think of the possibilities of that split second in time and gratitude overwhelms me to know they are unhurt and still lighting up my world.

Well we have officially been dubbed the coolest town in the United States, at least for the moment. The President and Michelle are here in our town. Asheville, North Carolina. The “spiritual mecca of the the western world”. People come here to live life in a quiet way. A loving way. We are good to each other. We recognize street people and Presidents alike. We have theatre groups such as Immediate Theatre Project to bring us productions such as the most recent “Dead Man’s Cell Phone”. Lauren Fortuna is our resident star of theatre here. She is brilliant and perfect for stage. And apparently screen too. As well as billboards. Our restaurants are hip and cool, each in their own way. I am partial to Scully’s as my daughter and son-in-law are the proprietors. I know how much they care about serving people well and providing a workplace home for the servers and bartenders and management. And it is good food made with care, prepared as for a comfortable guest. Then there is Beans and Berries, their smoothie, coffee café on North Merrimon. I created the look, logo and graphics from their intention to “build a place where people come and feel happy”. The intention is to offer healthy and tasty food quickly rather than fast, whether driving through or eating inside or on the patio…now that it is spring.

This town is a place where you can reinvent yourself to be who you have been all along and afraid to live it. We are a town of misfits and out of the boxers. We lead the way for so many to follow.

So what’s our life like from an outside viewpoint? Google Obama’s and Asheville and read the stories. If I didn’t live here, I’d at the very least visit here. And of course, once here I would have to move here. We are a cozy town. We are an arts town. We are the Paris of the South. We are a town that recognizes each other. Those of us who have been here a while are home easily. The family shows up in friendship and taking courageous steps together. This weekend was “Walk a Mile in Her Shoes” in downtown Asheville. Men walking a mile in pumps to raise money and awareness for a women’s shelter.

Love this talk by Derek Sivers at TED. He says “The first follower is what transforms a lone nut into a leader…”

I just watched this feature story on CNN.com touting yoga. It’s a beautifully powerful story. http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2010/04/21/dnt.mans.yoga.weight.loss.plan.WXYZ?hpt=T2

“Today is the tomorrow you worried about, and all is well.”