My special seat for sitting

rock garden

What drove her to buy sixteen bags of 50# stones to begin a rock garden? Couldn’t zen stillness come more easily? Couldn’t she do walking meditation without all this trouble? It wasn’t until the yard mistress was digging ground for a vegetable garden, putting unwanted rocks aside for some yet to be discerned purpose, that [...]

winter

Although it’s not Winter Solstice for a few days, you could fool me. I was as excited as a kid to wake up and see the snow. Where I live there are lots of trees. There is a woods behind me and several trees on two sides. Only from the front window do I see [...]

Meditation, the Muktananda way & poem 92

Most days I do my OM japa, i.e., I take my 108 beaded necklace and chant OM slowly as I work my way around each bead. My favorite place to do this is on my garden bench. Then I get the additional joy of hearing birds and other sounds of nature. Sometimes, though, I actually [...]

my guru, nearly full moon ~ poem 65

It is approaching midnight. Hours have passed since I went into my meditation room. I did my OM japa then sat in silence. It was dusk when I began and now it is late. I let the dogs out. Ah, it is nearly full moon! But it is something more . . . I was [...]

gratitude on a Saturday morning

All week I’d been quite busy. So when I went to bed last night, I looked forward to an extended sleep. I had nothing I had to do until Saturday night. My bedroom window faces east so I usually can’t sleep in much when the brightness of the sun shines in on me. I awoke [...]

reflections & poem 46

It happened for the second time: I missed a day writing a poem a day. I woke up on my couch, a cat on one side, a dog on the other. Went to bed. So two today. What to write? The Global Audio Satsang for Baba’s Birthday yesterday? How nine of us celebrated with glorious [...]

fibromyalgia / poem 42

Had a lethargic and painful morning. I escaped a few hours by napping on the couch — shortly after having begun my day. I was restless and spacey into the afternoon. Finally about 2:30, I got the call from the hospital. Mr. G could be released to go home. I dreaded the drive across the [...]

Baba’s lunar birthday & poem #35

Tonight’s satsang at the Siddha Yoga Meditation Center in Cincinnati was a celebration of Baba Muktananda’s lunar birthday. The actual date is this coming Saturday but we meet on Wednesday nights so acknowledged it tonight. I was the audio visual person. Being a special celebration, there were more cds to manipulate than usual; every space [...]

Remembering India / Poem #11

During meditation this morning, my mind wandered to India. It has been one year and a month since my trip to Varanasi (Banares). I guess it was the tamboura playing in the background that took me there. Regrets: I wish I could have stayed longer. I wish I hadn’t missed a day being sick. I [...]