Sparkling Starfishes

On the tidal mud, just before sunset,
dozens of starfishes were creeping.
It was as though the mud were a sky
and enormous, imperfect stars
moved across it as slowly as the
actual stars cross heaven.

All at once they stopped, and,
as if they had simply increased their
receptivity to gravity, they sank down
into the mud, faded down into it and lay still,
and by the time pink of sunset broke across
them they were as invisible
as the true stars at daybreak.
                                       ~Galway Kinnell


One of the best things about being near the beach is the astounding connection to being alive. The sand grounds you into the earth as the water brings fluidity to mind, the breeze offers the elements of air and space as the Sun brings the glow of fire.

In Yoga, there's a pose called Starfish where you open the arms, set the feet wide apart, and feel the heart open. Energy flows through the cells of the body sparkling like starfish. Standing on the beach in starfish, you shine like a star!

Life is Shaking You...

If you really live
deeply in spiritual practice
then this moment is intense.

Moment to moment,
life is shaking you
out of what you know;
shaking you out of everything
that is comfortable.

So much so that
all you can do is surrender
to this moment.

All you can do
is allow everything
to be as it is
and fall deeply
into impersonal being.

It is in this that
deep transformation happens.

It is in this that
you really realize
that you exist beyond everything.

That you are the personal yet
you are completely beyond the personal.

The intensity of the Shakti
pushes you beyond yourself
and you learn to remain
surrendered in this intensity
with great silence,
great humility
as consciousness itself.

So do not be afraid
to let yourself
be in such intensity.

It may be challenging,
but if you run away
from that challenge
back into everything you know
and what is comfortable,
you will miss it.

Because it is in this intensity
that you feel the most alive.

There is some part of you
that recognizes
that this is the doorway
to your freedom.

~Kip Mazuy


Last night the full moon was incredibly beautiful. The breeze was soft and gentle and the night air wrapped around me like a fine silk sheet. The palm trees swayed and the moon and I played hide and seek. Surrendering to the intensity of each moment, awareness shook me into deep silence and I bowed in gratitude to the Great Mystery that is life.

Fully alive, completely awake

The essence of life is that it's challenging. Sometimes it is sweet, and sometimes it is bitter. Sometimes your body tenses, and sometimes it relaxes or opens. Sometimes you have a headache, and sometimes you feel 100 percent healthy.

From an awakened perspective, trying to tie up all the loose ends and finally get it together is death, because it involves rejecting a lot of your basic experience. There is something aggressive about that approach to life, trying to flatten out all the rough spots and imperfections into a nice smooth ride.

To be fully alive, fully human, and completely awake is to be continually thrown out of the nest. To live fully is to be always in no-man's-land, to experience each moment as completely new and fresh. To live is to be willing to die over and over again. From the awakened point of view, that's life.

~ Pema Chodron

The thing I seem to be practicing these days is just this. Pema Chodron has such a simple, beautiful way to express what life is and how to navigate one's way through it with grace, compassion and joy. Challenging, sweet, bitter, completely awake... How I welcome each moment!