The Barred Owl spread its wings, lifting up from the ground to my left and landing on a tree branch directly in front of me. It rotated its head away, and then all the way back towards me, as though letting me know how important it is to include this wide perspective if we are to be wise in the world. The owl is often considered an ominous totem, but I have come to see it more as a kind warning to pay attention, especially to our shadow.

The Owl kept its steady gaze upon me, inviting me to remember what I had been thinking about before it startled me. I was considering an article I read called “Healing Thinking”, written by Rolf Sattler, in which he condenses the work of other philosophers before him into four levels of logic. It turns out, our most recent Yoga Community discussions generated a similar thought process for managing our current environment of division and strained relationships as a result of COVID and the election year. Our shared wisdom included taking a pause, asking questions to clarify our understanding, and being non-attached to the outcome of our conversations and actions in the world.

I will paraphrase my understanding of Sattler’s four levels of logic, which begin with the dualistic or “black and white” thinking (i.e. fear and control) so prevalent in our world right now. The second level of logic occurs when we are able to consider another person’s perspective, or “be in someone else’s shoes”. I am eternally grateful to my Mother for her consistent efforts to deeply explore how someone else must have been feeling, or what might have motivated an otherwise incomprehensible act. She truly taught me how to “pause, and keep an opening for more truth to come in”.

With this second level of “both/and” logic, we are able to see how anything “bad” also has some good, and how anything “good” also has some bad. My favorite example is how we all have a unique skill or attribute that makes us exceptional, and that same trait has a dark side, and vice versa. My daughter is not able to easily make sense out of letters and numbers, which has caused her abilities to become more highly developed in relational awareness, emotional intelligence, intuition, and singing.

The third type of logic, found in Yoga and Buddhism, is called “neither/nor” thinking. In the Yoga Sutras it is referred to as “neti-neti” or “neither this nor that”. Yoga also calls this “neutral thinking”. For example, rather than thinking the rain is bad (negative thinking) or good (positive thinking) we simply think, “It is raining”. This step can be quite difficult, and also very liberating with practice. Like the Zen meditation practice of contemplating a koan such as “one hand clapping” the effect is to stump the mind, thereby opening us to that which is beyond the mind.

The fourth level of logic is traced back to Jainism in ancient India, and invites us to add to any of the first three levels of logic the phrase, “In some ways” or “from this perspective”. This truly makes me laugh, as it reminds me of a quality I’ve noticed in the Yoga Scriptures, such as the Bhagavad Gita and Upanishads. The Sage in the story offers wisdom to the student, who struggles to understand. The Sage tries another approach, and another, and another, until the student understands. It is fundamentally forgiving and compassionate, recognizing not only the complexity of reality, but the difficulty in being human.

This is essentially what the Owl was saying. "Life is complicated. Turn your head this way and that to open to a fuller perspective. Steady your gaze upon your Wise Heart. Be quiet. Be patient. Be gentle."

With great Love,

Julie

_____________________________________ 

Video track -  1:36 minutes (click on the photo)

After two months of teaching Yoga Philosophy on Relationships it was perfect timing for Roy and I to arrange a meeting. I wanted to see what could happen if I invited someone else to join me in my spiritual practice in the woods. Of course, Roy is not just any other person. Roy has provided me with a distant but steady counsel in my yoga business for years, and we’ve remained fond supporters of one another--kindred spirits for sure. With this kind of person, a single get-together feels like it awakens many lifetimes of learning.

We loosely created an intention for our walk, as you can read in my invitation to Roy below:


With Roy, the inspired conversation began even before we stepped onto the path, as he expressed his willingness to have, what Buddhism calls, “the wisdom of no goal”. He said,


In the first half of our walk, before we mutually agreed to allow shared quiet, I shared a new concept I was grappling with. I tried to frame my thoughts in a way that wouldn’t seem strange or weird, nor require Roy to agree with me. His response was beautiful:

As we walked, we stopped to observe and appreciate the energy of certain rock formations, tree barks, spiders, dragonflies, and other people. I showed him many of the places that had inspired my Yoga Nature videos including the Cicada, Lady slippers, and Birch tree. We began experiencing the paradox between noticing these elements of nature as separate from us, but also feeling our interconnectedness. He expressed his concern that when we start to label and identify, there is separation that occurs that can also be said, in its extremes, to lead to the capacity to objectify people and nature in limiting ways.

From beginning to end, the most common theme of our walk was “Openness”. Roy shared that one of his favorite things to do, when he sees his children, but extending out to all people, is to say, within his own mind, “I wonder who you are today? Because you are not who you were yesterday.” We agreed that we could even say this to ourselves each day.

As we neared the end of our walk, and I continued to attempt to “figure out” some certain spiritual concepts, Roy gently questioned whether or not I could just rest in the unknowing. He said that one of his favorite things to remind himself is to:

“Unconfuse oneself through not knowing.” (from Toni Packer, Buddist Nun)

Or said another way,
“Not knowing is our Friend.” ~Roy

Thank you, Friends.
With great Love,

Julie

_____________________________________ 

Video track -  2:15 minutes (click on the photo)

to help navigate uncertain times . . .

The title of our study for August Yoga Philosophy was “Preparing for a New Reality”. I offered this subject to help inspire a positive focus during the continued uncertainty of COVID and a divisive election year.

It is more important than ever for us to know “who we want to be” but, first, we must figure out “who we don’t want to be”. This practice of “doing no harm” (ahimsa) takes awareness, courage and letting go of the old wounds and patterns that serve no one. The most common patterns worth letting go of are not feeling good enough and needing approval (weak ego), and judging or needing to fix/change others and/or the world (strong ego).

On my walk in the woods, the red spotted newt affirmed this possibility for positive transformation, as we allow the old parts of ourselves (and of our collective culture) to fall away. The newt can regrow a new limb if one falls off! What might our new limbs look like? Try on these new limb thought patterns: Un-doing, Not doing, Being. How about “Let me see every person and event as an opportunity to become a better person myself, and surrender the rest”. You’ll be surprised how much more goodness you bring to the world this way!

With great love,

Julie

For further encouragement, please click on "continuing reading" to read the heartfelt wisdom from our Yoga Community, based on this month’s Yoga Philosophy Course discussion:

The cidada shell stopped me in my tracks. This “cause to pause” has become a signal to me that I need to listen. Some wisdom is trying to come in, but I must open my mind, allow quiet, and focus my attention upon studying the energy at hand.

The shell made me laugh, in light of the theme of our August Yoga Philosophy Course. We are studying how to prepare for a New Reality, which begins with how to shed the old ways, programs, wounds and lower vibrations of both our individual and collective energy. The old shell becomes obvious to us when we are feeling judgmental, critical, worried, angry, possessive, rigid, controlling, fearful…got any of that? That’s our old shell. We can learn to look at it, perhaps with some compassionate horror!

The great news is that we, like the cidada, will emerge, and with wings! In fact, that which delights, uplifts, enlightens and makes us feel like we’re soaring is great guidance to follow! That’s the direction we are going. And, like the cidada, it can happen quickly. Both recognition of the old shell, and the fast pace in which we all are waking up, invite us to take good care of ourselves, allowing ahimsa (non-harm) to lead the way through intentions of humility, gentleness and discernment.

We can bring this forward into action via our voice and, again, take wisdom from the cicada. Most known for its sound, the cicada sings in various harmonies and rhythms that have fascinated and mesmerized people for ages. Honor rhythms by knowing when to speak and when to stay silent. Let us sing in harmony with those around us, and notice how it is this harmony that is molding, shaping and calling forth the new reality.

The cidada borrows a famous quote (attributed to pacifist A.J. Muste) as it offers this wisdom: 

"There is no way to Harmony. Harmony is the way."

 _____________________________________ 

Video track -  2:15 minutes (click on the photo)

Have you seen the mushrooms popping up in the woods, especially these last two weeks? They seem to come so quickly and out of nowhere, with amazing vitality and color. Such is true as we awaken on our spiritual journey. All of a sudden we can know (or remember) something we didn’t know the previous day, and it doesn’t have to come from a book or person. It can come, perhaps especially, in the quiet of our own mind. 

The mushrooms remind us that each new day brings new understanding, if we listen and trust the guidance. I’ve come to see the wisdom as nudges or direction on the path, with an almost cryptic quality. Just enough to get me interested, my mind stumped and curious, to take the next step, and study the information that presents itself. It becomes rather exciting--crazy even--and the serendipity and amazement increase as the clues drop in.

It gets close to what I imagine are some of the qualities of a psychedelic experience with mushrooms. Mushrooms have a property called psilocybin which, when studied in psychologically healthy people, results in a decreased sense of separate self, and an increase in interconnectedness and universality. One can also experience these ego-softening effects in meditation, when falling in love, being in nature, or having an unexpected and enlightening conversation.

I suspect that in this current evolution in consciousness, we have a lot more willpower than we think to choose a softening of the Ego. This election year, and continued COVID anxiety, is the perfect challenge. Let us be inspired by the mushroom to willingly suspend our ego, our beliefs and opinions, in favor of embracing an alternate reality of our own making. As Buddha said, “Sometimes it’s better to be kind than to be right”.

 _____________________________________ 

Video track -  2:15 minutes (click on the photo)