Life is Love a poem for You

Life is Love by Ella Wheeler Wilcox


Is anyone sad in the world, I wonder?

Does anyone weep on a day like this,

With the sun above and the green earth under?

Why, what is life but a dream of bliss?



With the sun and the skies and the birds above me,

Birds that sing as they wheel and fly -

With the winds to follow and say they loved me -

Who could be lonely? O no, not I!



Somebody said in the street this morning,

As I opened my window to let in the light,

That the darkest day of the world was dawning;

But I looked, and the East was a gorgeous sight



One who claims that he knows about it

Tells me the Earth is a vale of sin;

But I and the bees and the birds - we doubt it,

And think it a world worth living in.



Someone says that hearts are fickle,

That love is sorrow, that life is care,

And the reaper Death, with his shining sickle,

Gathers whatever is bright and fair.



I told the thrush, and we laughed together -

Laughed till the woods were all a-ring;

And he said to me, as he plumed each feather,

"Well, people must croak, if they cannot sing!"



Up he flew, but his song, remaining,

Rang like a bell in my heart all day,

And silenced the voices of weak complaining

That pipe like insects along the way.



O world of light, and O world of beauty!

Where are there pleasures so sweet as thine?

Yes, life is love, and love is duty;

And what heart sorrows? O no, not mine!

Think Pink!

Spring 2012 All is One

Those coming to class are sharing their feelings of deep unrest and sense of helplessness in the midst of rapid change that we are all part of in this Kali Age. This is manifesting in pain of various sorts be it in the body or in the mind or in the spirit.

Some are more aware than others that this is a disconnection with the true self as all pain is just a resistence to 'what is'; a lack of acceptance or 'what is.'
I am not saying that pain is not 'real' and 'painful' for all of us who are in this human state but I am offering teachings which give light and help to lessen those intense feelings by understanding who we truly are. By way of example we can examine the pain felt by amputees in a limb which is not there; that pain is real for them but it is in the mind. From this we see that the mind is our biggest challenge which is why yoga's first sutra - truth - is the call to still the mind. If even one thought remains it is dominant and hides the true self; such is the power of mind.
Once we realise that we are one then we realise we cannot lose anybody or anything. Once we realise that we are not this body, this mind, this breath; we have no pain. We detach completely and flow with all that is.
Ok...perhaps not this week! I just ask you to read the following and meditate on the wisdom of Love as a virtue and not an emotion. The true self is Love which has no sense of 'me' and 'you'..........just the one which is whole and complete in this moment of Now.

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What is the Self?     (Extract  c. What are you doing with your Life?  J Krishnamurti)
Do we know what we mean by the self? By that, I mean the idea, the memory, the conclusion, the experience, the various forms of nameable and unnameable intentions, the conscious endeavor to be or not to be, the accumulated memory of the unconscious, the racial, the group, the individual, the clan, and the whole of it all, whether it is projected outwardly in action or projected spiritually as virtue; the striving after all this is the self.
    (nb, This self is the ego or peronality that we call ME)


In it is included the competition, the desire to be. The whole process of that is the self; and we know actually when we are faced with it that it is an evil thing. I am using the word 'evil' intentionally, because the self is dividing: the self is self-enclosing: its activities, however noble, are separative and isolating.

We know all this. We also know those extraordinary moments when the self is not there, in which there is no sense of endeavor, of effort, and which happens when there is love. -
 (nb. no division from the 'other' means there is 'no other''; only Love, only ONE. The hollywood version of love is actually only sensation and emotion between two individuals - rarely Love!)


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I wish you all strength through this year which holds further upheaval but which will be better for those who did the 'work' through 2011 and will get better if you start now to meditate every day and keep connected with like minded souls for support.


Classes getting deeper now as we start to incorporate mudras and more more stillness after four weeks of loosening up with Kriyas (cleansing), pranayama (breathwork), meditation and of course Asana!

om shanti shanti shanti

narayani