Thirteen, Twenty and Five Things

Dugra Minerva on Colorado Mountaintop with blessing blaster.

Mandala Cabbage. An intimate portrait.

Dear Storians:

The above are two of my list titled thirteen things that inspire me today.

I also have a list titled twenty things I would like to do in the near future.

And five things i fear.

I find list writing to be a narrative catharsis. Somehow the demands of a full page are lessened by the contour of limits. In yoga we call this the container, for example, the body is the container for the greatest teacher, the breath. It is really that simple: attention to the body means awareness of breath, bringing to being presence, union with the moment. The word yoga means union, and comes from the word yoke, another limit, a restraint that frees. The yoga sutras say this union is a natural state, but we are constantly pulled by opposing forces into frenzy, depression, separation from the moment. Thus, the purpose of practice.

This weekend I'm inviting you to list as part of your practice. Use the three prompts above to begin. Then, if you feel adventurous, create your own. Bring these to class on Tuesday.

Tuesday we will discuss the prompts and begin our own lists of inspirations for the Community School students.

Tuesday and Thursday we will finish our discussion of Cunt, so if you haven't read it yet be sure to do so by next week. It's a quick book, a few hours in the sun will do it.

I also have placed the Woman's Ways of Knowing chapters on e-reserve. The password is vesta (all lower case). Read at your leisure. We will be discussing them on Tuesday the 27th.

I leave you with a mandala. The word is sanksrit, and means, essentially, container for essence. If you follow the link below you should be able to print out and color your own.

mandalacoloringmeditation.com/ mandala-coloring/

Bright April blessings to you all--