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the Dragon January 23, 2012 marks the end of the year of the Yin Metal Rabbit and the start of the year of the Yang Water Dragon . Hopefully the year of the Yin Metal Rabbit has given us time to reflect on things and make some decisions as to how we are going to proceed. Now the Yang Water Dragon brings with it an elemental force that must be reckoned with. The Dragon is a sacred creature of myth and legend. A symbol of good fortune and sign of intense power, the dragon was often regarded as... Read Full Story

And so it begins…2012 has arrived and, whether there is some prophetic galactic convergence on the winter solstice in December or not, change is upon us. There has been a fundamental shift in the world that we can no longer turn a blind eye to. It is starting to affect the daily lives of more and more people. The circus-like distractions of the mainstream media are no longer able to divert our attention from what is happening. The basic tenets of fairness and rule of law have been broken by... Read Full Story

Another holiday season is upon us. As usual the holidays can stir up quite a lot of stress. When we combine this with the general unease that seems to pervade the world at the moment, it breeds difficulty and uncertainty into our daily life. And while many are caught up in the distractions that appear to be growing louder and more insistent, a lot of people are truly ready for some sort of shift in awareness that will change the dynamics of this situation. In truth there is no other place to... Read Full Story

  Poetry and Yoga… as inseparable as ocean and sand. Together they create a mirror glass reflecting the enlightenment inside of us. Yoga turns us inward as we discover the graceful flow of our bodies interacting with breath and spirit; poetry channels expression outwards, pouring in the shape of words onto paper. Letters bend as a yoga asana, creating paragraphs with our lives. Feelings unravel in the form of sentences buried deep inside. HawaH, Creator & Visionary, The Poetry of Yoga It is... Read Full Story

A recent wood carving of mine The word Tao (pronounced daü) in Chinese means "the way," indicating a path of thought or life that concerns the essential unifying force of everything that exists in the universe. Taoism is following the way if living in harmony with that force. Many people on a spiritual path embrace the principles of the Tao without realizing it. The Tao-te Ching is the earliest document in the history of Taoism. It is a viewpoint that emphasizes individuality, freedom... Read Full Story

It is good to have an end to journey towards, but it is the journey that matters in the end. --Ursula LeGuinn Life itself is the journey. Learning the hard lessons of life and improving ourselves is a never-ending process. Often the lessons we are given appear as mistakes, misunderstandings or failures, but in truth the only mistake, misunderstanding or failure is not learning the lesson itself. If we don’t learn it the first time it is very likely that the lesson will be repeated over and... Read Full Story

Snake Terrace Garden It is really quite amazing how quickly time passes in the summer. I've been spending so much time outside in the gardens, not to mention the woods or the horse farm, that there has been little time to get on the computer. And even when I do get on the computer I can't seem to get too excited about sitting in front of it. And with our Zen Yoga Retreats coming up we have plenty of work to do. Of course part of it is that the summers here in the mountains of Vermont are... Read Full Story

It’s time to focus on breathing again… Breathing is essential to life, yet it often the most neglected aspect of any physical training program. The simple fact is that breathing is the fundamental aspect of our physical body. It is a continuous rhythm that runs throughout our whole life. The body can go for days, even weeks without food. It is able to survive two or three days without water. But it is virtually impossible to go without breathing for more than a few minutes. Without fresh... Read Full Story

Taoism is a 5,000 year old tradition. It is not really a religion but more a way of life. It is based on living in harmony with the natural world and uncovering the connection we have with all things. True Taoism or Inner Taoism ( tao jia ) is focused on the internal spiritual unfolding of the individual as he/she comes to an understanding of the forces of balance ( yin/yang ) and energy ( chi or ki ) that govern all of creation. At the core of Taoism is the Tao. The Tao is all encompassing... Read Full Story

“ All matter originates and exists only by virtue of a force… We must assume behind this force the existence of a conscious and intelligent mind. This Mind is the matrix of all matter . ” ---Max Planck Max Planck was the German physicist who was generally regarded as the inventor of quantum theory. He was the first person to coin the term “the Matrix.” The concept of the matrix was popularized in the movie The Matrix starring Keanu Reeves. In the movie the matrix was the sinister creation of... Read Full Story