"Allow yourself to trust joy and embrace it.
You will find you dance with everything." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Writing the previous post was incredibly therapeutic... I was able to cry after I shared about my uncle. It never ceases to amaze me how incredibly beneficial writing is. I'm so grateful for the opportunity to write and express and to feel a connection to you through this blog.

I am currently in the process of getting ready physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually for Shiva Rea's Yoga Trance Dance Teacher Training. After completing the training, I will be able to lead groups in Yoga Trance Dance, which is one of the most liberating experiences I've gone through since beginning the practice of Yoga...

I intend to eat all raw food while I am away and to not drink any alcohol, as well. As I grow in my practice, I am finding I desire alcohol less and less. It almost always impacts the way I feel in my practice and tends to cause a lot of bloating in the belly. When I consume alcohol, I feel like I retain so much water, too, and it just makes moving through the poses more difficult. Of course, anything in moderation is ok, but I prefer to not drink during the week. If I do drink, it is on the weekends and in smaller and smaller amounts all the time.

One of the other preparations I am going through is getting a colonic. I had my first one today and my second one will be tomorrow. I hope this is not t.m.i.-too much information. This is a practice Dharma highly recommends. He referred to the importance of cleansing the colon many times. He recommends drinking salt water to cleanse the colon, but getting a colonic is also effective. This has been a recurring theme since I began studying the practice of Yoga and wellness in 2001. Even Anthony Robbins advocates colonics and cleansing the colon as the most powerful prevention for keeping the body free of disease (other than our diet, of course.) Dharma expressed the same belief.

So, I may not post until I return from my training next Monday. In the meantime, I do want to share another passage from A New Earth.

This, too, will pass. What is it about these simple words that makes them so powerful? Looking at it superficially, it would seem while those words may provide some comfort in a bad situation, they would also diminish the enjoyment of the good things in life. "Don't be too happy, because it won't last." This seems to be what they are saying when applied to a situation that is perceived as good.

These words are not telling you that you should not enjoy the good in your life, nor are they merely meant to provide some comfort in times of suffering. They have a deeper purpose: to make you aware of the fleetingness of every situation, which is due to the transience of all forms-good or bad. When you become aware of the transience of all forms, your attachment to them lessens, and you disidentify from them to some extent. Being detached does not mean that you cannot enjoy the good the word has to offer. In fact, you enjoy it more. Once you see and accept the transience of all things and the inevitability of change, you can enjoy the pleasures of the world while they last without fear or loss or anxiety about the future.

The recognition This, too, will pass brings detachment and with detachment another dimension comes into your life-inner space. Through detachment, as well as nonjudgment and inner nonresistance, you gain access to that dimension.

When you are no longer totally identified with forms, consciousness-who you are-becomes freed from its imprisonment in form. This freedom is the arising of inner space. It comes as a stillness, a subtle peace deep within you, even in the face of something seemingly bad. This, too, will pass. Suddenly, there is a space around the event. There is also space around the emotional highs and lows, even around pain. And above all, there is a space between your thoughts. And from that space emanates a peace that is not "of this world," because this world is form, and the peace is space. This is the peace of God.

Namaste! Read more