may day

 From an excersise in knowing the earth in Nature Observation, a course with Michael D'Aleo

Lying on the ground I felt so welcomed by the earth.  After some moments of battling with my mind and the base desire to find the right answer, I started to feel.  I focused a question in between my shoulder blades along my spine and kept returning to listening with my body.  At first the screeching, squabbling gulls and the shrill insistence of some other birds distracted me. ‘Shhhhh, I am trying to listen to what the earth has to tell me’ and I laughed.. mother earth speaks through many voices.  Just as there was so much activity above me, I imagined so much below. ‘ Shhh, just listen’  I told myself again.  And then I felt a wave of energy lap across my back.  ‘Did I imagine it?’ But again fainter, as if disappointed by my doubt, I felt it again and again, like the rhythms of waves landing and retreating on a shore.  The earth is full of water and life here.  The earth still feels to be reveling in the new potential now that its form is above the water.  This jubilant attitude is louder in spring, so excited that it can surface in greens, blues and yellows, the colors of beginnings. The forces of growth and persistence  re-emerge fortified by metals deep in the earth as activity retreated far from the long blanket of snow. The air is full of bees now, birds chirp and squawk and a butterfly just grazed my curls, yet again, a ladybug (with 14 spots!) lands on my knee.

a little bit of a bigger task

Happy Easter!  It’s a beautiful day here.. probably about 65 degrees and definitely sunny.   

 

The magnolia tree has blossomed over this week, you could practically see it grow.. now the birch trees are looking like they have a light green aura as their leaves are starting to emerge.  These past few weeks have been intense. The painting with the yippies (the loving term that we have for the people attending the YIP program) was amazing.  It’s as if they capitalized on the previous years and therefore trusted the process.

 

 It’s now a day later.  There was a conversation needed that couldn’t wait.  We hosted a conference here all last week and the last couple of people are leaving today, so there has been a lot of request for conversation and questions.  Typically I have struggled with conferences, whether feeling left out or not interested but this Initiative Forum was different.  The first difference probably is that I’ve learnt that there is something in my star chart that makes me feel left out of groups, and since I’ve learnt that I don’t take that feeling so seriously anymore and it frees me up to join in the groups that I wish I were a part of.  Most of the time that works perfectly! Another thing that distinguished this conference was the design, which included not only inspirational lecturers but also ‘open space’.  Open space is a method where the participants bring the content and there are some guiding principles that leave you invited to join in where you are moved, and encouraged to leave if you are not moved.  So many conversations, connections and inspirations that I want you to know, but seriously I don’t even have the words for some of the moments.  Check out the web site (http://initiativeforum.yip.se/).  I think the lectures are coming so you can actually hear them!  And one of the biggest gifts was the performance by Matre (http://www.mcmatre.com/main.html)  he speaks wisdom bigger than words, gets the whole room moving, grooving, jumping and I left feeling inspired, brave and more capable than when I entered.

Alright … baby steps for now.. I have more to tell you .. for now I just gotta get into a rhythm of letting the blog flow.. and off to a fine organic dinner I go!  Lots o love <3

little bit about where i am...

So here i am in lovely Ytter Jarna Sweden.  There are still patches of snow lingering  both on the fields and in the ponds, yet every day it stays light a little longer and the buds on the trees  are starting to swell in the excitement of approaching spring.  Yesterday a blanket of clouds hung low and hugged in, rain and wind echoing the chills of winter.  And today started off the same way, but finally the sun seems to have won the epic tug and war between winter and spring.  At moments shining bright enough for me to leave my coat as i adventured out.  

What brought me to Sweden is a most amazing progam called the Youth Initiative Program (http://www.yip.se.   I live in a house with twenty something young people.  I have a room with its own bathroom in the top corner of the house where i can hide away when i don't want to be in the thick of it and there are two common kitchens for food and company.  I am teaching yoga in a big room in the white house (yup, sounds like a big deal place!) every weekday at 7 am (yes, a big deal :)).   This week  i am teaching a painting class in an old red building called the Magasinet .. it's across a big field (or along a path through a maze of ponds).   the Magasinet is divided up into 6 different rooms, although we are only using the top floor this year i feel a little like an art gerbil as i run  circles up and down  in response to my name.  ( a delighted and happy art gerbil, mind you). 

I was so distracted by the delightful and gorgeous golden light that I forgot to take a picture till just after the sun set .. this is about 8pm..  in the distance you can see the Magasinet ..and the corner you see is the building that i am staying in. 
For now, that's all.. lots o love to you !