"I believe I will never quite know. Though I play at the edges of knowing, truly I know our part is not knowing, but looking, and touching, and loving, which is the way I walked on, softly, through the pale-pink morning light." 
~Mary Oliver

"O chestnut-tree, great-rooted blossomer, Are you the leaf, the blossom or the bole?
O body swayed to music, O brightening glance,
How can we know the dancer from the dance? "
 ~Yeats

"Now go, [the Universe] said
Into the country of love

Change it with your experiments
Don't be intimidated. Enjoy your skin

Impress me
Make something grow

For your bravery merely in undertaking 
This impossible task

I make you a special loan called Time
No, don't bother to thank me now--

You can pay me back as you go"
~Tony Hoagland

"If not now, when? If not me, who? If I am only for myself, who am I?" ~Rabbi Hillel 30 BCE

"Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world's grief. Do justly, now. Love mercy, now. Walk humbly, now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it." 
~The Talmud

"Dharma is not about credentials. It’s not about how many practices you’ve done, or how peaceful you can make your mind. It’s not about being in a community where you feel safe or enjoying the cachet of being a 'Buddhist.' It’s not even about accumulating teachings, empowerments, or 'spiritual accomplishments.' It’s about how naked you’re willing to be with your own life, and how much you’re willing to let go of your masks and your armor and live as a completely exposed, undefended, and open human person."
—Reginald Ray

Scene in a graveyard:
"Do you hear the dead people talking?" He answers, "Dead people don't talk." 
"Sure they do," she says. "Chatter away like birds ... All they can say is one word. That word is 'live.'
Live!
Live!
Live!
Live!
Live!
It's all they know. It's the only advice they can give. Simple. It's a very simple instruction." 
~an exchange between Marlon Brando and Joanne Woodward in 'The Fugitive Kind'

“Dance, when you're broken open. Dance, if you've torn the bandage off. Dance in the middle of the fighting. Dance in your blood. Dance when you're perfectly free.” 
~Rumi

"You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete." 
~Buckminster Fuller

"Misery is comfortable. Happiness takes effort."

"It is better to live your dreams then dream your life."

"Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive."  ~Anais Nin

Notes on freedom: "Let yourself express feelings. If you hate what you are doing in the moment, let it show. If you care for the people around you, let it be seen. As your feelings change, allow your body to express the change."

"Learn to listen and respond to what your body tells you. Don't worry about whether or not you're doing it right. Let go of your need to be marvelous and just do it. Slowly, so you can feel it." ~Kay Carney

"Other people's love can awaken our love, but it is our own love that makes us happy. That love is our own truth. It is our freedom. That love will transform the old dream into the new dream. [...] 


Surrender. Whatever happens will happen because it must. Our task is to enjoy our life more and to express what is inside us to bring about a new humanity. If we have sadness, we share sadness. We can only share happiness when we are happy. We cannot share love unless we love ourselves first. [...] 


Action is what makes the difference. The power is in the action, not in the dream. Through your actions, you have the power to change everything. You can claim the freedom to act on behalf of transformation and express your personal dream by creating a life filled with beauty and love. I encourage you to be the supreme artist of your personal dream and the dream of the planet. Make them as beautiful as possible. You are light. You are love. Express your beauty with love." 

~Don Miguel Ruiz, Toltec Prophecies

"[Love] breaks the heart
again and again
and again
until it stays
open." 
~Rilke

"Let your love be disgraceful, crazy and wild. 
If you're too holy and careful, God will escape you." 
~ Rumi

"Life will give you whatever experience is most helpful for the evolution of your consciousness. How do you know this is the experience you need? Because this is the experience you are having at this moment." 
~Eckhart Tolle

I am here to live beauty. I witness the natural world and show up in my full animal self as much as possible, mirroring the beauty around me and in me to the best of my ability.  

Words of wisdom from many midwifes: 

“There comes a point in the labor at which virtually every woman wails, “I CAN’T DO THIS!!! It’s too hard, it’s too painful, it’s too scary; I can’t do it anymore and I’m through trying! MAKE IT STOP!!” And I bless that moment. Because that’s what makes them a mother. The surrender to the natural force they are part of; the realization that they *can’t* control everything anymore. Some women get there within a few hours, some take days. But whenever they do, I know they are going to be okay. Not just in delivering the baby, but in raising it. Because they’ve learned the hardest lesson — that they can’t control everything, and they will never again be able to control everything, and they just have to ride it out and learn to live with that.”

This video is a little racy and completely beautiful.  

This video is part dance and part acrobatics, completely beautiful as well. 

By my friend Daniel Mollner:  

This video is about bringing dance into schools.    

This video is Daniel sharing why he dances.  

This video by Daniel is about communication in relationships.  

"I believe in singing. I believe in singing together."  Expert article here. 

Remember Your Song

When a woman of a certain African tribe knows she is pregnant, she goes to the jungle with other women, and together they pray and meditate until they hear “The song of the child.”
When a child is born, the tribe gets together and they sing the child's song to him or her.
When the child begins his education, the village gathers and chants the child's song. When the child passes through the initiation to adulthood, people get together again and sing. At the time of marriage, the person hears his or her song again. Finally, when the soul is about to pass from this world, tribe gathers and, just as they did at his birth, sing the person’s song to accompany it in the “journey”.

In the African tribe there is one other occasion upon which the villagers sing to the child. If at any time during his or her life, the person commits a crime or aberrant social act, all the tribe makes a circle around him and sing his song. The tribe recognizes that the correction for antisocial behavior is not through punishment, but through love and the recognition of his true identity. 
When we know our own song there’s no need or desire to harm anybody.

Your friends know “your song”. And sing when you forget it. Those who love you cannot be fooled by mistakes you have committed, or dark images you show to others. They remember your beauty as you feel ugly, your total when you’re broke, your innocence when you feel guilty and your purpose when you’re confused.

~Tolba Phanem (African poet)

I am so happy to support a local initiative to have mindfulness training in schools.  Learn more here.

This video is also very inspiring.  

*30+ Examples of Cisgender Privilege:  Article here.  

*Most Popular Guy in Town Stu "Cleavage" Rasmussen Oregon Transgender Mayor.  Video here.  

*Same Love video by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis:  "I might not be the same, but that's not important, no freedom till we're equal, damn right I support it...A certificate on paper isn't gonna solve it all, But it's a damn good place to start.  No law is gonna change us.  We have to change us.  Whatever God you believe in, We come from the same one, Strip away the fear, Underneath it's all the same love, About time that we raised up... Love is patient, Love is kind...."

*'I Am An Emotional Creature' ~ Eve Ensler.  Video here.  

*3 Things Your Little Girl Needs From You That You May Not Realize.  Article here.  

*I've started telling my daughters I'm beautiful.  Article here.  

*Move Over, Barbie - You’re Obsolete.  "Debbie, a female in the male-dominated world of engineering, was bothered by the lack of women in her field. So she decided to do something about it."  
Check this out.  

This is one of my favorite contact improv videos.  One day... perhaps I can be this cool.
Video here. 

And this is Steve Paxton, the originator of contact improv, helping to unpack why many choose contact improv to help us in our movement evolution.   

Another contact improv video here. 

"Have the courage to fail and the resilience to succeed."


I have a dream...of how I want Dharma Door to operate and what I believe it can offer my community.  

My dream is still in the works.  It unfolds with patience as I balance the many aspects of creating this space and operating the business, and allowing my personal life to unfold and my personal needs to be important too.  

This Spring/Summer, I am going to help create a beautiful mandala veggie garden at Dharma Door Retreat, including perennial fruit gardens and flower/herb gardens. With time, the food that is created will nourish workshop participants and local food shelves, as well as our farmer's market prepared food items. I will continue to find the right teachers and experts to help here and eventually I would like them to join me in offering a month long course that includes building the infrastructure, planting, foraging, and also daily yoga, whole foods cooking and nutrition, community building, and other complementary practices. Perhaps this will happen for two weeks this summer.  Perhaps more.  It is all unfolding.  This has been a dream for a long time. Let me know if you would like to contribute or participate in anyway.

I took this next picture as I waited for Dharma Door to be ready to move into.  Finding this tree helped me find more patience.  If this tree can root and thrive here, at least for not, then I can summon more patience as I wait to come home to dharma door.  I love the peace sign too.