Rhythms in nature

I’ve been gardening for years now and still know nothing. Patience is acquired in gardening through the slow process of whittling away the unnecessary much like your yoga practice.

 

Over time I start seeds in trays and get a 50% hit or miss ratio on sprouting and transplanting.

 

 

 

 

Direct seeding has been even more topsy turvy and I’d say I’ve got a 20% success rate. Some of my seed was getting old in the fall so I decided to just plant it directly and let nature take its course. I watered for several weeks and nothing sprouted. Oh well, live and learn. The planting guides for our area I’ve decided are written by trolls with a sense of humor.

 

 

We had lots of rain and then in the middle of winter, things sprout. Alright…just let the rhythm do what it does. You’re the reminder nature. Start where you are, grow your roots. Indeed.

How to neti pt.1

A neti pot is something all people should have and use regularly. No other cleaning and hygiene regimen within yoga is as important to daily health in my opinion. As yoga practitioners know your breathing helps control many of the other functions in your body, having poor breathing leads to poor health in the long term.

In Austin people are extremely susceptible to allergies and this is a way to fight them off. It’s not a cure but with regular use I suspect allergies aren’t as severe and it gives your body less to fight.

Clean your nose, it’s as simple as that. In a future video we’ll discuss the internal anatomy of the nose as it relates to breathing. Share this around, if you’ve not used a neti…start.

Link to purchase

Thai seated back pt.2

This continues our series on Thai massage in a seated position. The video shows work that’s used on an extremely common problem area, the upper back where it meets the neck. Levator scapulae are the muscles that go from the top of the shoulder blade to the base of the skull and they’re often tight and tense. The use of the elbow saves your hands, allows you to work effectively without strain.

Share these with friends. They’re easy to perform techniques that post little risk when done in communication with those you’re working on. Ask those who receive from you how it feels. Better still show them how to perform it and trade. The best way to learn is to give and receive.

See you soon for a Thai massage class here in Austin, Texas.

http://robertgardnerwellness.com/class/thai-yoga-massage/

Is love difficult?

I stumble over my own thoughts at times. The logical inconsistencies that come with thought and logic often confound me and leave me wondering, what does that particular word mean? In a loving moment with my wife at a party I realized while I gazed down upon her face and stroked her hair just how difficult it’s been to love her.

I mentioned it and we entered our own little world in the midst of the party. I thought deeply and pondered what I was trying to communicate. After considering what I was trying to make effable I explained that loving her is easy, loving her as much as she deserves requires attention and focus.

My path is not that of a celibate. I chose romantic love consciously. I felt no desire for the monastery or austerity and growing in relationship with someone was my chosen path. One must choose ones partners carefully. My spiritual leanings have me embrace impermanence. In that state, in the true realization that there is only this moment, the challenge is to embrace it fully and possess the inner fortitude to love yourself and others in every fiber of your being. Breath after breath, moment after moment interacting with the world around you to manifest beauty and love.

There is no method, no book and no substitute for love and living life. It is learned by experience. Tis better to have loved and lost is the saying. Impermanence is another word for it. When I am old I’ve no wish to look back on my life and regret. I’ve no wish to ponder what I could have done differently to love others, create a better world and leave this planet better than I found it. My life is my message. It’s manifest in my teaching yoga, in my bodywork and in my relationship to others.

“Loving you” is difficult, I explained “because I must step up to the challenge you’ve placed before me. I must love you as you deserve by becoming the person I aspire to be. I must love in the way that Coltrane improvised a solo. Embracing the present moment with every cell I must be improvised love. I have to cast it out as it pours through me undiluted. You have challenged me in our relationship to try to learn to walk upon the earth as if flowers should sprout out of my footsteps. That is the man you deserve and with every breath I evolve into him.”

She was as you can imagine, touched. Even embracing the small tender moments of loves expression will prevent a lifetime of regret. Love is now.