Grace Notes
As antidote to the metaphorical whiplash of traveling between Wickford and Falmouth each week, which includes the “travel” of moving into and out of the state of Grace more frequently than I’m accustomed to moving,...
“When you are in the heart, there is nothing to say.”
At the Met Breuer last week, trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith and pianist Vijay Iyer performed music without melody, music with few patterns, music without beginning or even...
The threshold of another year materializes out of the mist and we take a seat to approach the moment. A New Year gives rise to thoughts on time and space and boundaries and movement. There is a threshold; there is the space on either side of it, ...
Working our way through bull briars and vines and fallen cedar logs – the carnage of our epic winter, 2015 – we sought wonder in the 100-Aker Wood.
Morning at Grace: the first bird sings at 6:15, just before sunrise, and the Hundred-Acre Wood behind the house rouses itself on this October morning.
We headed toward Lochbuie through miles and miles of mountain laurel just past bloom. Everywhere, sheep
“You must be funny. You must be strong. You must become amenable to total relaxation in order to withstand the emotions you must withstand.”
Nestled on a mountain above Woodstock, NY is the Karma Triyana Dharmachakra monastery. This summer while visiting, Whit and i approached the beautiful Tibetan compound with awe: ringing the entire site, hundreds of prayer flags flapped in the wind against a brilliant blue sky. i laughed out loud. It was stunning and transformative.
The day broke cold and windy. We huddled in the truck as we drove to the beach. Unloading the horses, we were all cast in silhouette against the breaking-day sky.
Cessation, or Nirodha, arises in the yogic texts as the penultimate step of a yogi’s practice: When thoughts cease to make waves, unity is made apparent. (In Patanjali speak, “Yoga is to still the patterning of consciousness.