I took this picture last Friday evening from the backyard...gorgeous.

Looking Out My Back Door by Creedence Clearwater Revival

Just got home from Illinois, lock the front door, oh boy!
Got to sit down, take a rest on the porch.
Imagination sets in, pretty soon I'm singing,

CHORUS:
Doo, doo, doo, Looking out my back door.
There's a giant doing cartwheels,
A statue wearing high heels.
Look at all the happy creatures dancing on the lawn.
A dinosaur Victrola listening to Buck Owens.

CHORUS

Tambourines and elephants are playing in the band.
Won't you take a ride on the flying spoon?
Doo, doo doo.
Wond'rous apparition provided by magician.

CHORUS

Tambourines and elephants are playing in the band.
Won't you take a ride on the flying spoon?
Doo, doo doo.
Bother me tomorrow, today, I'll buy no sorrows.

CHORUS

Forward troubles Illinois, lock the front door, oh boy!
Look at all the happy creatures dancing on the lawn.
Bother me tomorrow, today, I'll buy no sorrows.

CHORUS

Man, I love that song...I used to listen to it all the time in high school. One of my favorite teachers ever, Mr. Ponikvar, who was my Honors English teacher when I was a junior in high school was amazing. We would walk into class and he would be singing some CCR song or some other classic tune. Or, in the middle of class he would start singing. Or, when you would be walking down the hallway, he would be whistling. He was/is definitely a yogi. I really credit him with inspiring in me a passion for writing. He had such a passion for literature...but exploring it in a trascendental, spiritual way...which spoke to me even when I was 16. I've been into the spiritual reality of existence for as long as I can remember. I was always asking the deeper questions, even when I was a child...

So, let's see...what's going on... Well, we are postponing the Brazil trip for a later date. We didn't really give ourselves enough time to promote it and share it with everyone...so we will figure out a better time and let you know those dates once we have decided.

Perhpas the most inspiring and transformational experience I have had, recently, (other than attending the Yoga workshop in Austin with Shiva Rea a couple of weeks ago) was when I went to see Byron Katie this past Sunday night in Dallas. I have known about Katie for the past several years. Over the past couple of years, I have been hearing more and more about her. As they say in Yoga...when the student is ready, the teacher appears. So, I was ready for Byron Katie and she appeared in Dallas this past Sunday. What an amazing experience. Here is a little information on her work which is called The Work.

"The Work of Byron Katie is a way to identify and question the thoughts that cause all of the suffering in the world. It is a way to find peace with yourself and with the world. The old, the young, the sick, the well, the educated, the uneducated-anyone with an open mind can do this Work.

Byron Kathleen Reid became severely depressed while in her thirties. Over a ten-year period her depression deepened, and Katie (as she is called) spent almost two years rarely able to leave her bed, obsessing over suicide. Then one morning, from the depths of despair, she experienced a life-changing realization.

Katie saw that when she believed that something should be different than it is ("My husband should love me more," My children should appreciate me more,") she suffered, adn that when she didn't believe these thoughts, she felt peace. She realized that what had been causing her depression was not the world around her, but what she believed about the world around her. In a flash of insight, Katie saw that our attempt to find happiness was backward-instead of hopelessly trying to change the world to match our thoughts about how it "should" be, we can question these thoughts and, by meeting reality as it is, experience unimaginable freedom and joy. Katie developed a simple yet powerful method of inquiry, called The Work, that made this transformation practical. As a result, a bed-ridden, suicidal woman became filled with love for everything life begins.

Katie's insight into the the mind is consistent with leading-edge research in cognitive psychology, and The Work has been compared to the Socratic dialogue, Buddhist teachings, and 12-step programs. But Katie developed her method without any knowledge of religion or psychology. The Work is based on one woman's direct experience of how suffering is created and ended. It is astonishingly simple, accessible to people of all ages and backgrounds, and requires nothing more than a pen and paper and an open mind.

Since 1986, Katie has introduced The Work to millions of people around the world.

The only time we suffer is when we believe a thought that argues with what is. When the mind is perfectly clear, what is is what we want. If you want reality to be different than it is, you might as well try to teach a cat to bark. You can try and try, and in the end the cat will look up at you and say, "Meow." Wanting reality to be different than it is is hopeless.

An yet, if you pay attention, you'll notice that you think thoughts like this dozens of times a day. "People should be kinder." "Children should be well-behaved." "My husband (or wife) should agree with me." "I should be thinner (or prettier or more successful)." These thoughts are ways of wanting reality to be different than it is. If you think this sounds depressing, you're right. All the stress that we feel is caused by arguing with what is.

People new to The Work often say to me, "But it would be disempowering to stop my argument with reality. If I simply accept reality, I'll become passive. I may even lose the desire to act." I answer them with a question: "Can you really know that that's true?" Which is more empowering-"I wish I hadn't lost my job" or "I lost my job; what can I do now?"

The Work reveals that what you think shouldn't have happened should have happened. It should have happend because it did, and no thinking in the world can change it. This doesn't mean that you condone it or approve of it. It just means that you can see things without resistance and without the confusion of your inner struggle. No one wants their children to get sick, no one wants to be in a car accident; but when these things happen, how can it be helpful to mentally argue with them? We know better than to do that, yet we do it, because we don't know how to stop.

I am a lover of what is, not because I'm a spiritual person, but because it hurts when I argue with reality. We can know that reality is good just as it is, because when we aregue with it, we experience tension and frustration. We don't feel natureal or balanced. When we stop opposing reality, action becomes simple, fluid, kind and fearless.

Wow...the more I read her writing and learn about her...the more I resonant with her work and teachings. It's so inspiring to me that her whole process developed from her own self-inquiry...not from some kind of formal teaching/training or study. But, simply from her own willingness to turn inward. Shiva Rea often talks about one of her gurus who was completely self-initiated into Yoga and became self-realized on her own. She didn't have any formal guru. Everything in Yoga teaches us the teacher is within...and yet...how often we look outside ourselves for the answers. Anyhow, I highly recommend reading this information on Katie's website. This will give you a good insight into the process she has developed...the four questions to ask oneself when any thought arises in our mind that we feel some kind of struggle about.

I hope you have an awesome weekend. I'm looking forward to the Partners Thai Yoga workshop at exhale spa Dallas on February 13th from 3-5 pm, as well as, the new Yoga class I will be teaching on Saturdays from 10-1115 am, beginning, Saturday, February 20th. This Yoga class will be at an incredible location in Dallas which will offer us the opportunity to practice Yoga outisde in a beauitful setting...weather permitting. When weather does not permit, there is a wonderful space we can be practice in indoors, as well.

Jai Guru-Victory to the Teacher, the eternal goodness within each of our own hearts.

Om Namah Shivaya~


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