"Only to the extent that we expose ourselves over and over to annihilation can that which is indestructible in us be found"

Pema Chodron

Winter's quiet wisdom coming in, soft light snow on the ground and i wake in darkness to teach yoga. Travels commencing again soon here.. love and joy to everyone..

new chapter july 2010...

the view from roanoke ave.

& the tiny new music house

fresh mind, body and soaring spirit

launching out into the broader world musically

come fly with me.

aho blessings.

love dogs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF4_KZfIfVI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YGrz23nNOA

spring is here at last.

music thrives from the federal st. yurt and flys out into the world.

love.

i have moved!

i made the leap and historical move after almost 12 years on federal st.! it is a joyful letting go of an epic run of wonderful family and friends, and experiences. last night was the first night in the yurt as the federal house family expands to a more communal level. Kat, Nate and Coco (and Matt) arrive to the house and the community garden begins...see http://thetinyfarms.org/ . memorable about the first day/night in residence at the yurt was a nice indian meal with friends after a thorough sage clearing/blessing ceremony by Erika and Lucius and the full moon's movements through the skylight, as well as the unseasonably 'warm' night in late feb. I'm feeling closer to the sounds, smells and energy of nature out here next to the garden and feeling much gratitude for a rich life. music awaits...om.

Purple Lotus

Purple Lotus Solstice Tea Party release

live music in the Atrium between Thump and Curiosity Shoppe downtown Bend

Sunday Dec. 20th noon to four (with a little help from my friends).

Celebrating the return of the light.

The long awaited (just over the gestation length of an elephant- 22 months) completion of the solo project with some great guests. Global feel east-meets-west album with flavors of India, Brazil, Latin America, Ireland, Scotland, and the U.S. (blues, bluegrass). Recorded half on Federal St. in Bend Oregon and half in India. There are pianos, guitars, bass guitars, mandolin, Indian percussion instruments including the mridangam & morsing, other wonderful percussive additions, cajone, didgeridoo, and a tambura drone.

Inspired by life, love, family, Mysore Gurus, the Divine muse and playing music with friends.

Blessings to all.

young deer

This morning i woke with a new sensation. It was an energy that i couldn't trace as to its source. It was a solitude, slightly sad but when i checked over all the possible situations causing it in my life, nothing made sense..it wasn't friends that were distant or any current situations of transition (including my yoga practice and teaching). My life is thriving, healing and well as of late. Just finished a successful weekend with Manju Jois, my dear friend & Yoga Guru form Encinitis (& India), have new loving and energetic musical endeavors..kirtans with Phil and our "celestial songbird group", Vasudeva, the Yoga ensemble with visions of "taking it on the road" and honoring the space between the notes.. see http://vasudevayogaband.wordpress.com/, gypsy jazz with Pat E. and Kevin W., fiddle students, finally the completion of Purple Lotus my solo album recorded partly in India, new "intentional urban communities"--Mandala Yoga Community (we eat potluck breakfast every saturday together as well as other gatherings), the Experience Community Project Sanctuary on Jefferson..food co-ops, meditations, sound healing, community space & support, and my beautiful circle of family and friends far and wide...

So where did this feeling arise from? the deeper layers no doubt..and i settled into a feeling of compassion for those deeper layers within me and rested. At moments like these, i transcend the day to day details of life and sink into a much broader place of ALL the births, deaths and movements of life and beyond life to another matrix like level. Resting in this feeling of "all" is not pleasant nor unpleasant but very very FULL.

Then i realized what actually could be happening in my energetic field...i rose, turned on the Breveille Hot water pot for coffee and glanced into my backyard. Like may other days this week and before, deer were there....however today was different. Before it had always been groups or lately a Mother and its child hanging sometimes all day and into the next day. Not this morning, a solo deer was there. My Yard is a combo of wild and groomed and there are nooks and crannies behind the garden beds, yurt and lilac bush for the deer to eat and be comfortable amidst the domestic city life. However, today something odd ..the baby deer is alone resting quietly beside one of the eight g. beds that make a wheel. He or she is not eating but has a empty look in its eyes. Tears come to me and i wonder if that means that Mom has been injured or hit by traffic in its wanderings through urban westside Bend.
Those tears were for a real situation yet remind me of crying during a movie..the situation in front of our eyes reminding us of the things that we have experienced in life as loss, sorrow.
And yet, these tears are also freeing since life and death are equal players in reality and its the acceptance that brings more light to life. Anyone have any ideas about whether i should try to feed this creature or not?

jasmine

"Our perfect companions never have fewer than four feet."

Jas the cat.

Always knows what to do with human emotions. Purr endlessly.

A couple of nights ago i woke from a bad dream with him jumping on me squarely and then plopping down on my belly to purr loudly, as if to say.."there Mom i pounced on the monster in your dream for you, you are all set now". Cats know things.

Vasudeva live on the radio

Vasudeva, our improvisational Yoga Music Ensemble will be supporting Bend's local radio :

hear us and get out your yoga mat at home, or just breathe.

Tonight after 8:30pm PST on kpov 106.7 www.kpov.org for steaming online.

red sky in morning...sailor take warning

urban wilds...for the last few weeks a family of deer (up to 6) have been sleeping in the backyard in order to munch on the remaining greens from the garden, lilac leaves and their favorite...sunflower heads. this morning the sky was amazing pinks combined with fall early morning light, with the golds/reds of the changing leaves mixed in. the effect was LIGHT and soul-filling (thank goodness the fall color palette has finally arrived, i thought we were going to go straight from green to dead winter, see snowy picture from oct. 4th- the earlist snowfall of that depth i can remember with many tree limbs broken and fallen). my dear friend and massage Guru Tarika used to say that the brilliant fall colors serve to ground us for winter, it's true. i'm soaking them up where i can find them, in town and the wild aspen stands, in contrast to the pine tree/black lava oregon landscape. fall is one of my favorite seasons, i think it is an old memory of the excitement and preparation of the ski season ahead.

Jazz

Music Sweet Music...a healing tonic.

Gypsy~French jazz immersion right now inspired by Grappelli/Django tunes and others for our "French jazz trio" in November with Kevin W and Pat E. Feeling the hot club swing..

And on the opposite spectrum my other new project VasuDeva, the "Yoga Band" as some call us...mostly improvisational India-inspired double drummers, trumpet, voice, guitar, crystal bowls, violin, rattles, clarinet and people doing yoga. We have our first out of town gig...Oct. 2010 at the Sacred Thread Festival in Cali.

And finally a recording project with Joe S. and ongoing Masala Mostest with Mark, Pat and Shireen. Feeling the fulltime music here in rainy/snowy days.

But thinking largely of my original music inspiration... my Dad and sending thoughts of ease to his health.

duex

everything changes. through all our human fits of ups and downs, having and losing we end up coming back to the same thing, the melodious call from the well-spring of love and joy within, regardless of the outside circumstances.

sadness may just be a sign of believing a stressful thought that isn't actually true.

with the fullest acceptance that i can muster up for reality as it is, and loving the truth just as it is right now oct. 7th 2009... i surrender and become relaxed, expansive and open in heart and mind ...because we have loved deeply and that doesn't go away.

contentment on your path.

love,

juliebird

quiet, humbled and still loving despite rough edges

"There is great happiness in not wanting, in not being something, in not going somewhere."

"It is truth that frees, not your effort to be free"

both by J. Krishnamurti

joy and sadness

lingering thoughts on a living fully wednesday afternoon .
may we affirm to each other only the joy we have shared if we die. may we affirm it while we are still alive. if i die, be only joyful for our time together. if i live, be only joyful for our time (all of it) together and i will too.

the Goddess
within

forgiveness

Autumn Equinox...half day and half night. Forgiveness inward and out, there is love here.

Navaratri 09

Fasts by day, Goddess fires and chants by night...pulling out all the stops, feathers catching the wind, we're riding elephants up Chaumundi Hill and dipping the live Goddess herself in the river, head under water.

summer travels

Sri Ganapathi Sachidananda Swamiji on Mt Shasta for 123456789 (7th day of the 8th month of the 9th year of the millenium at 12:34:56. We chanted OM for Peace and Protection along with his sacred singing bowl..

Colorado Music Tour with the Mostest: Telluride Bluegrass and other Rocky Mtn. vision quest spots

Mt.Theilson


Santa Fe/Taos to Moab music and wisdom tour with Anastacia

if you don't ask, the answer is "no".

right here, right now in this moment, there is more to be grateful for than to fix.

barns burnt down---now i can see the moon -Masahide

I've been "grounded" for several months now in bend's unusually lush spring (except a trip to laramie, brietenbush & eugene). This staying put is not the normal for me, but i am settling into a nice mellow & sustainable routine. The seeds went into the garden on a "seed day" in the astrological and moon cycles last weekend and then it proceeded to rain everyday after to coddle and feed them into tiny spoutlings.

What prompted this entry this morning was an epiphany stepping out of the Yoga building in "eastside" bend. The view west from my daily habit locale is the majestic Sisters and Bachelor mountains. This morning the foothills were visable through mist and rain as dark bodies stark against steel grey sky. And there nestled into them was a very wide rainbow, the largest breadth of rainbow i've ever seen.

The realization was more an appreciation for the "little things" in life. Nature's changes & her sensual nurturing, the comings, goings & sharing of life with family and friends...

Here at home the back rose bush tucked behind the yurt is starting to burst out with endless yellow blooms, see picture.

There hasn't been a lot of "drama" in my life for weeks...almost too mellow if I reflected on my life of Olympic ski training travel, yoga studios, numerous "bands" and musical endeavors, extensive India travel and depth of Indian cultural immersion, huge weddings, and spontaneous travel..etc. But i am realizing at this age of 40yrs that mellow is good and the subtle small pleasures are lasting and satisfying. Like cooking a meal for friends, smelling the fresh rain first thing in the morning, the wake up call of a warm cat purring in my face, seeing the beauty & potential in others and myself, and the drifting off to sleep at night knowing i've lived and loved well that day.

The cup is more than half full.

May Day

april showers bring may flowers...
woke, went outside and put my hands in the strawberry patch to pick up some morning dew to rub softly on my face. a gaelic ritual for this first day of may.
the welcoming of a fertile year and may day.
see this interesting link about beltane, the pagan version and symbolic meaning of May 1st:
http://www.geocities.com/cecylyna/beltane2.html

i like the "Beltane is also about being naked. Not necessarily nakedness of the body, but nakedness of the soul, of removing the veils we put up between the world and our true self: even of removing the veils we put up to hide our true desires from ourselves"

may your day be filled with joyful abandon

nature

Quotations, however eloquent or inspiring, cannot compare to a day spent free amidst the wonders of wild nature.
passed on by a friend.

hot stoves

jet lag is great for computer productivity!

but don't sit too close to hot fire stoves or your clothes will melt and smell terrible.

have gone quote crazy recently...2 from uncle bruce:

But if you do not find an intelligent companion, a wise and well-behaved person going the same way as yourself, then go on your way alone, like a king abandoning a conquered kingdom, or like a great elephant in the deep forest. - Buddha...

Laughter is the closest distance between two people. - Victor Borge