In a moment a wisp of incense smoke curled into the ray of April sunshine that slanted through the window. I sat in open-eyed meditation in the zendo (meditation hall) after six days and 60 plus hours of sitting practice of a nine-day silent retreat. How lovely. How far from ordinary. How unlike anything I’d [...]
A Summary of physical, mental, medical and therapeutic benefits of a regular practice note: I have been collecting benefit articles and facts for years. Most of these are triple sourced. Increased general well-being and a feeling of pleasurable fitness Improves posture, coordination & steadiness Normalizes weight and [...]
“Hot Yoga isn’t real yoga” someone said to me in passing the other day. Humm…I thought. Here's a question, what is real yoga? Even the ancients don’t agree on what yoga is. They speak of the yoga of Bhakti, of Jnana, of Raja, of Karma of Mantra or Yantra. They even speak of Hatha. [...]
Crossing the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, heading into the Atlantic we passed through a swarm of house flies. They filled the boat! Flies were everywhere, hundreds of them. They were in our food, in our clothes and bedding; we were overrun. Someone produced a fly swatter and went to work swatting at them with no effect. [...]
Hot Yoga, Apana and Sweat! Apana is the emptying, downward and outward flow of Prana. It is the release of the breath on the exhale, it is the relief of elimination of body waste, it is the release of tension through meditation and exercise and it is the joy of sex and birth. Apana [...]
“Jump Ship”, to exit or leave the boat quickly w/o the captain's permission. May 18th, 0100 hours ( 1 am) , winds east five to ten knots, clear skies, south east swell one to three feet, relative location: off the N.J. coast just south of Sandy Hook. I awoke for my watch to relieve Joel as pilot. [...]
It all started out calmly enough. I got an email in mid-December from a sailing buddy who thought I should check out a boat transport gig, from North Carolina sailing to the Caribbean leaving ASAP. What the hell, I thought and made the contact with really no intention of sailing anywhere during the holiday season. [...]
What was I thinking? To fly to St. Maarten in the Caribbean on three days notice, somewhere I had never been before, with a one-way ticket. Then to board a 45-foot sailboat I had never seen before with four people I had never met before. The plan was to sail across the Atlantic Ocean, to the [...]
