Life on the Outer Coast

Yoga Workshop

Friday evening through Sunday lunch took a 3 day yoga intensive from Julie Lawrence from Portland, Oregon.

It is rather difficult to sum up three days of intensive practice, so maybe I won't try. The most enjoyable aspect of almost any workshop is being able to focus on one thing I enjoy for a number of hours. She has emphasized the need for practice, non-attachment to any given outcome of the practice and honesty. Oh, then there is abdominal enlightenment. Daily abdominal enlightment is encouraged.

What I've really enjoyed are the poems or readings with which she starts class. Three out of four of the readings made it into this post. The fourth didn't stick with me.

Our True Home

Our true home is in the present moment.
To live in the present moment is a miracle
The miracle is not to walk on water
The micracle is to walk the green Earth in the present moment,
to appreciate the peace and beauty that are available now.
Peace is all around us
in the world and in nature
and within us
in our bodies and our spirits.
Once we learn to touch this peace,
we will be healed and transformed.
It is not a matter of faith;
it is a matter of practice.

Thich Nhat Hanh

The second morning Julie shared this poem by the late poet laureate of Oregon, William Stafford

The Way It Is

There's a thread you follow.
It goes among things that change.
But it doesn't change.
People wonder about what you are pursuing.
You have to explain about the thread.
But it is hard for others to see.
While you hold it you can't get lost.
Tragedies happen; people get hurt or die; and you suffer and get old.
Nothing you do can stop time's unfolding.
You don't ever let go of that thread.

William Stafford


The last morning, Julie started with a small piece of a T.S. Eliot poem (The Four Quartets 4: Little Gidding). I found the complete version at http://www.tristan.icom43.net/quartets/gidding.html


We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.


The first of the Nootka lupines and Northern Geraniums are blooming in the garden