Monday, August 6, 2007

Monday August 6, 2007

This week flew by. I continue to feel more and more myself. I decided it was high time to spread my wings a little more today, and did a short Sirsasana before the restorative postures I embrace many times during the day. Yoga practice is educative, restorative, balancing, and in this case was wonderfully thrilling. Now do know that I know how to do, and not do and not to over-do….

I am having so much fun living through your tales of tails and wings and wiggles through the earth. My toes are tapping with the elephants and my own Sensibar can indeed do the samba….as long as I lead.

Now one Central Park tale… I can report that in a posted quiet zone, the robins were spread thickly and evenly across the lawn, listening for worms. Across the path, where there is no prohibition on festivities, birds of all sorts were in the bushes and branches-- swooping, warbling and generally having a high old time welcoming the morning. I kid you not. And I wonder if the Conservancy knows how well the signage works.

Later today I will fly to Ann Arbor to visit my mother and take care of some things in her home. I look forward to getting some necessary things done, walks and seeing at least a few of my many friends in my hometown.

When I get back to New York, I hope to go to the Institute often and use it as my haven and inspiration.

When I think of Puja in Ladekh, the many, many prayers that you are offering from all parts, and the vibrations of an organ playing Bach traveling out to me and to all of humanity, it is no wonder that I am feeling better and better.

I will be off email for a week and enjoying some of the best of the Midwest.

Hearing from so many and knowing you are there for me makes me more eager to see you all and get back in the swing. That is the direction you are pointing and I am headed.


Much love,
Mary

21 comments:

alexander vreeland said...

Dear Mary,

I am so happy to hear your news and especialy that you are feeling strong enough to travel. That is great.

I am thinking of you and send lots of love from Paris,

Alexander

Ja Soon Kim said...

Dear Mary,
A quick note before you run off to the midwest... just came back from New Mexico intensive with Dean and Rebecca. They were so generous... how wonderful it was!!!! even without electricity, indoor plumbing and much thunder and lightening and wild animals.

The Mary Dunn fan club met frequently and wept and laughed, "talk-story" as we say in Hawaii. Your inspirations touched deep in wilds of New Mexico desert.

Much love and aloha,
Ja Soon

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

Dear Mary,

We keep getting closer and closer, how lucky for me. I’ll not only be moving even closer to you than I am now (in NYC) at the end of the month, but will be visiting neighboring WI starting tomorrow night ~ sending you healing thoughts from the Midwest…enjoy.

Kristine Bell

Oya H said...

Dear Mary,

As I read your blog, I join others to wiggle and giggle, shout and dance, clap my hands and tap my feet. I like this elephant tapping, I tap the earth more and more and more... I am so happy that all is going soooo well for you, going forward and upward.

It is wonderful to hear your healing progress and adventures.
First it was the books, the cds, then the yoga props close-by and more spacious space, then a friend Samba Sensibar, then outings to Central Park, an outing to a yoga class, now it is Sirsasana and even a plane trip.
Yes, I am happy your chart is going forward and upward. I believe more Sirsasanas and other Asanas are on the way.

Once again, I am thinking of you. One more time, I send you lots of love and light, many wishes of healing and peace. You are always in my heart, all the best,

Namaste,
Oya

Jackie said...

Oh Mary, how lovely, to go see your mom and touch base with old friends now... now after first sirsasana.
My famiily is well and happy. Everyone says hi and sends a hug. The little one is six feet tall and weight lifting at the beach each day. The big one is now a photographer. If you feel like looking, Tam's website is up at www.tamarlevine.com.
Vicki says hi from Pune.
My mom is more and more forgetful now, but in calling her each day there is redemption.
And so... sirsasana.
As the world goes right side up in upside down and the sun shines up at you from the ground which is beaming down at you so skywise... may your earthy air breathe inward to the spiraling music of your cells. May your sheathes continue to right themselves in re orientation.
Love,
Jackie

Catalina Arboleda said...

Mary,

I am so thrilled to hear how well you are doing--visits with friends, walks in Central Park, sirsana, and now a flight. Hooray, hooray, hooray for the virtues of modern medicine, the miracle of yoga, the love of friends. Here wishing you better and better health and strength...

Much love,
Catalina

Leslie said...

Dear Mary,
Flying! To Ann Arbor! Enjoy enjoy!
Remember that proper pronunciation of all Sanskrit words is auspicious: SHEERSHAASANA:
SHEE: 2nd mouth position,palatal
R: 3rd mouth position,cerebral
SHAA: 3rd mouth position,cerebral
(although by the time you get to AA,the vowel sound is expanded 1st position,gutteral)
SA: 4th mouth position,dental
NA: 4th mouth position,dental.
The beauty of this word is that you get to resonate all the sibilant sounds of Sanskrit. Resonate the sound!!!!
Isn't it wonderful to be upside down again?
Love,
Leslie

Barbara Nicol said...

Dear Mary,

I confess I had to google sirsasana to figure out which pose it was...I remember coming back to the poses after a bout with malaria and found them all new
again, which heightened my sense of exploration.

As for the garden I hsve at a friend's house, there were 80 purple morning glories in the greenhouse this morning. Such abundance! However, they keep trying to grow up the giant zinnias, so I need to keep an eye on them. I have put up a net for some of them to climb instead.

Hope you have a wonderful trip,

Much love,
Barbarq

Yvonne said...

Dear Mary
Thinking of you in your beautiful family home and expansive garden in Ann Arbor that you so kindly invited me to visit last year. I hope you have a truly special time and continue to heal and amaze us all in how you face your life trajectory.
Much love
Yvonne

Unknown said...

Dear Mary,
I am a faithful student who has been absent from the Monday classes I took with you when I became pregnant several months ago. I am a teacher at Yoga Works and Tzahi told me about what you were going through, coincidentally, the day I happened to see you at Grey Gardens. You are in my prayers and it is great to read your blog and hear the wonderful news of your feeling better!

Best wishes,
Maddalena Maresca

Unknown said...

Dear Mary,

How pleased and happy I am to know that being inverted you are moving up .
Your beautiful words " keep your ribcage light ,like the wings of a butterfly" will stay with me forever ( Rapolano Workshop 2006 ).
Wishing you well and a speedy recovery . Your'e inspirational and awesome .

Best wishes ,
Naseem (Dubai chick)

Kathy Jo said...

Mary,
I'm off to Feathered Pipe on Saturday for Dean and Rebecca's workshop.
Knowing you can't be there in body, I know your smile will be with us in the lodge (will you be shining out from the many-pointed buck on the wall?) as our energy will be transmitted on a direct conduit to you.
Stay well and happy, keep getting better and better.
Love,
Kathy Jo

Jon Peterson said...

Dearest Mary: Yipee!! Sirsasana is one of my favorite poses... even though you frequently say in class, "Relax your jaw and lift your shoulders, Janna". In your absence, my jaw is relaxed and my shoulders are lifted, as I devote my many Sirsasanas to you.

Have a safe travels and come back to us soon.

Blessings, love, light, and peace,

Janna

PS The robins aren't listening for worms, they're actually looking for them with one eye.

Karen said...

Dear Mary,

I am packing for Feathered Pipe and thinking of you. I know that we will all hold you in our hearts, as we practice, learn, pray, chant, walk, and of course, eat! These moments will be filled with joyous recollections of you at the ranch, and poses learned, meals shared, vistas enjoyed, and the special feeling we all have when we are on that sacred land.

I hope you enjoy your time at home, and that your healing journey continues to deepen.

With love,
Karen Allgire

Jeff H said...

Dear Mary,

Hearing of your continued recovery and good spirits is such wonderful news! I like to think of you taking sanctuary in that beautiful home on its wonderful knoll and gaining strength with each breath.

While packing for Feathered Pipe last weekend for tomorrow's departure (yes, I like to organize myself early)I reflected on the many "Mary" instructions I hear even without your physical presence -- entering urdva dhanursana from a bolster like a wave, moving a block in trikonasana to find oneself stresslessly parivrtta, taking the shoulder under the look, the look under the shoulder -- and looked forward to joining others who are so enriched by your teaching. I don't know what form it may take, but plan on a sizable wave of loving, healing energy to come your way from Montana next week.

And now for a little Rumi that seems particularly appropriate before a week of yoga in the mountains...

Wean Yourself

Little by little, wean yourself.
This is the gist of what I have to say.

From an embryo, whose nourishment comes in the blood,
move to an infant drinking milk,
to a child on solid food,
to a searcher after wisdom,
to a hunter of more invisible game.

Think how it is to have a conversation with an embryo.
You might say, "The world outside is vast and intricate.
There are wheatfields and mountain passes,
and orchards in bloom.

At night there are millions of galaxies, and in sunlight
the beauty of friends dancing at a wedding."

You ask the embryo why he, or she, stays cooped up
in the dark with eyes closed.
Listen to the answer.

There is no "other world."
I only know what I've experienced.
You must be hallucinating.

Unknown said...

Dear Mary,
I'll be there....part of that wave of love being sent from Montana.
It won't be the same without you, but then, nothing is ever the same.

xxoo
Bill M.

Carol Cook said...

Dear Mary--David and I just arrived in Montana for a week at FPR during which you will be sorely missed. We will be thinking of you non-stop and dedicating our practice to you.
As you no doubt know, much of Montana is on fire at the moment. The air in Helena smells faintly of smoke. We will think of this effluence as smoke signals sending you our healing thoughts. Much love, Carol and David

Unknown said...

Mary,

You've always been inspirational to me, and especially now, seeing the way that you are facing your situation. You've been a true teacher and I've been honored to be your student.

sending you lots of love,
-alyssa

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

Hi Mary, A few days ago when I took my shift at the reference desk I was startled to see that the poem below was on the screen...clearly from the previous shift and previous patron. I read it it and immediately thought of you...Hope you are enjoying your trip in MI! Lots 'O Love, Maureen

The Journey

One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice --
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
"Mend my life!"
each voice cried.
But you didn't stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do --
determined to save
the only life you could save.

~ Mary Oliver ~