our-yoga

Yesterday when I returned from my hospital workday, my father-in-law mentioned that our Great Pyrenees livestock guardian dogs were extremely agitated in the afternoon.   When he checked on the dogs, he saw an enormous raptor circulating the barnyard, likely a red shouldered hawk.

Although the barnyard is generally protected by a tree canopy, at this time of year the trees are bare and the predators are very hungry.

I did my usual nightly animal care, which involves cleaning, feeding, watering, examining, and counting all 50 of our animals.

I only found 49.    Silver, the white chicken pictured above with her guinea fowl friends, was missing.

Silver sometimes digs in the compost pile, looking for interesting vegetable and insect tidbits.

I grabbed a lantern and searched the compost pile and forest around the barnyard for feathers or other signs of a raptor attack on a chicken.

I found her lifeless body wedged between the compost pile and our wheelbarrow storage area.

Her neck was broken and her underside had been delicately stripped of flesh - clearly the work of a raptor.   A raccoon, weasel, or fox would have decapitated the chicken and done more more damage.

I picked Silver up and carried her to the  hollow containing our Shinto Jinja - the shrine which houses our kami (the spirit of Unity Farm).   I cleared a large patch of snow and buried her by the light of a lantern two feet deep to ensure she is not disturbed by digging predators.

Chickens have their own unique personalities and characters.   Silver was one of our most curious chickens and she tended to explore the forest alone, which likely was her undoing.

The combination of a a fortress-like coop, guard dogs, and guinea fowl has been sufficient protection in the past.

We'll need to rethink the unsupervised free ranging that our chickens have done over the past year.

It's a rainy gray day in Massachusetts and the chickens are in the fenced chicken run for now.

The last thing we want is the local raptor population to think the barnyard is a feeding ground.

There is always life and death on a farm.   Our animals have a great life with plenty of space, ample food, and a peaceful co-existence among all our species.    It's hard to lose a animal, but this attack was an act of nature, and we've learned about the behavior of hungry predators in winter.

Image by Flickr user RelaxingMusic

1. Your biggest motivation for unrolling your mat is ________.
     A. To achieve the perfect yoga butt.
     B. To get to know yourself better inside and out.
     C. To relieve stress.
     D.  Because your friend invited you to class and you want him/her to see how awesome you are.
     E.  All of the above.

2. Your friend is on the fence about attending a yoga class. How do you try to convince her?
     A. Do nothing. She's obviously not as spiritual as you are so it's a lost cause.
     B. Say you know she'll love it whenever she's ready to go, you'd love to unroll your mat beside hers
     C. Not applicable. You don't associate with people who don't have a regular yoga practice.
     D. Tell her she HAS to go and list all the celebrities who do it
     E.  Do nothing. It's not your job to make others try yoga. She'll have to figure it out on her own.

3. Life is crazy. You realize you're going to miss your favorite weekly yoga class. What do you do?
     A. Panic. The last time you missed that class you went nuts and there was a series of unfortunate events.
     B. Take a few deep breaths wherever you are. Asana is only a small part of your practice.
     C. Unroll your mat at home for at least 5 minutes. It's better than nothing.
     D. Vow to take an extra class next week to make up for it. 
     E. Don't sweat it. Life happens.

4.  Your teacher is out and the sub instructs a pose that you feel most of the class is not ready to attempt. What do you do?
     A. Call her out immediately. You can't let your classmates injure themselves on your watch!
     B. Realize that there are different approaches to the practice, and try this new style with an open mind.
     C. After class you call the teacher over and quietly ask her about her style. It's different than what you've learned, but maybe she knows something you haven't considered.
     D. You make sure you practice the pose perfectly so that your classmates can see how it's done!
     E. You don't concern yourself with it. She's the teacher. She probably knows what she's doing.

5. How do you describe your yoga skill level?
     A. Expert, master, or enlightened.
     B. Intermediate, but you still have lots to learn.
     C. Intermediate. You can do more than most.
     D. Advanced.
     E. Beginner, in body and mind.

Should you enroll in teacher training?

Answer key:

Mostly As
Maybe not. It's helpful to approach a teacher training with the mindset that you're a student first and have a lot to learn. If you already feel you know everything you need to know, you might not get much out of the training. Not to mention, once you're done with training you'll be more relatable to students if they see you're humble and are on the same path of learning that they are. Keep practicing!

Mostly Bs and Cs
Dooooo it! You've practiced enough to know that you've just skimmed the surface of a limitlessly deep subject. You're open to learning, and you know that the best way to lead others is through your example.

Mostly Ds
Proceed with caution. Think about why you want to be a teacher: Are you trying to impress someone? Are you doing it to fit into a certain image of what you think a yoga teacher is? Yoga is about exploring your body, mind, and spirit. If you're not focused mainly on that, it might be hard to help others on that path. Keep practicing!

Mostly Es
It could go either way. You have the right attitude about learning more, but maybe you're more concerned with deepening your own practice than you are sharing it with others. Of course, that's a perfectly legitimate reason to enroll in a teacher training, but you might benefit even more from an immersion that doesn't focus as much on teaching skills.

Note: I did a teacher training when I was 22 years old.. and if I am really honest about it, I probably wasn't ready. And, truthfully, I know I didn't get as much out of the training as I could have. But I still wouldn't change a thing about it! It still helped me to deepen my practice, learn more about who I was and who I wanted to be, and I think I'm a pretty decent teacher now--even if I wasn't when I first got my certification. :) So, really, you're the only one who can determine when you're ready and what you want to get out of the training. I hope this little quiz gave you some food for thought, but please don't be discouraged no matter what the result! If you want to be a good teacher, you'll be an awesome one whether you take your training now or in 10 years.

I want to hear from the yoga teachers.. How did you know you were ready to enroll in teacher training?

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Today's Yoga Tip is a short but sweet one that will help you to be more precise in your alignment, activate the transverse abdominals, go deeper into the backs of your shoulders, protect your lower back, and improve your overall core stability.

Many of us, when we do yoga, "think" with the front of our bodies. So when we are asked to open the back of our bodies, we unconsciously try to manifest the instruction on the front body.  In some cases this is simply because our minds aren't used to thinking about the back of the body (out of sight, out of mind!). Or we may have tightness in the back body, and so we try to compensate with the front body.

The example I want to look at today is a common one: when working to stretch the backs of our shoulders, or when moving into a backbend, we lengthen our spine, lift our collarbones, and let our lower ribs "flare" or "pop" out. It feels like we are stretching more deeply when we do this, but in fact we are using our ribs as an "escape valve" to compensate for tightness in our back body.

So, what's the big deal? Well, when this "escape valve" becomes a habit, you will carry it with you throughout your practice, including into more challenging poses like backbends.   When the lower ribs are "popped", your lower back isn't being stabilised by its synergists, the transverse abdominals. This can cause excess load to be carried by the lumbar spine (the lower back), which can possibly lead to strain or injury.  You want to be especially careful of this if you (like me) tend towards a "curvy" lower back in general, because it can also mean that your back is taking undue strain even in postures that are not backbends (and probably in your day-to-day life, as well).

In either case, this is really simple to correct once you're aware of it: use your abdominals to pull the lower ribs back in and down and keep them close to your body. Then go back into the pose, staying aware not to let your ribs flare out again.

Clear as mud? Have a look at the pictures!

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Here's a guest post from  Meg Aranow, Principal at Aranow Consulting LLC.

Some of us remember that the early HIPAA discussions included the concept of a national patient identifier.   As legislators and administrators attempted to find the right balance between the risks and rewards of automation, ultimately the patient identifier was thought to pose too much privacy risk.  I think that was the right decision in 1998.  But is it right in 2013?

The risk-reward playing field has been significantly altered by the infusion of federal stimulus money to hasten the implementation of data exchange among collaborating providers of care.   Clinically misidentified patients are patients who are not associated with their own medical histories or are mistakenly associated with someone else’s medical histories.  These patients have a heightened risk for inappropriate and potentially dangerous care provision.  This potential has always existed within our institutions, but the prevalence increases as our collaborative models are extended.  When clinic records are shared with the collaborating specialty clinic, and then shared with hospital and then the post- acute facilities we increase both the opportunity to deliver great care, and the risk of misidentification occurring somewhere in the chain.

Washington administrators are considering a new set of standards to routinize matching algorithms in an attempt to reduce patient mismatches.  To dictate standard matching criteria will compromise the very privacy safeguards they sought to maintain by eliminating the patient identifier in the first place.  Standardized criteria is a weak substitute for an identifier – it weakens privacy protections  and doesn’t actually solve the underlying problems of errant patient identification which stems from intentional or unintentional misreporting and recording of patient demographics.

Undoubtedly there are risks with a national patient identifier.  We need to continue our efforts to bolster security and privacy.  Unfortunately today security awareness and breaches both seem to be on the rise.   Most CIO’s are acutely aware of the security standards they must meet and report that they are making incremental progress against multi-year agendas…perhaps foreshadowing a point in the future where breaches of PHI will become increasingly rare.   Additionally, medical identity theft is estimated in the billions – Ponemon Institute suggests a high end of $30B per year.  Making more money available for preventative measures rather than paying for the penalties and remedies for the lapses seems like a worthy paradigm shift.  Strong, reasonably funded security and privacy requirements with repercussions for mistakes and abuse may be the path to finding the new balance of risk and benefit for a collaborative medical system based on a national patient identifier.

A patient identifier, separate and distinct from the social security number, and used as one factor in multi-factor authentication at the point of registration for services would assist in the accurate identification of patients at the point of care.  The persistent use of the patient identifier in the private and public HIEs will streamline and make more accurate efforts to share data among collaborating clinicians and public health entities.

I had lunch with Elli Boland a few weeks ago. The conversation drifted, as it often does when you get two yoga teachers together, to the business of yoga, success, and how the two fit together (or rather how they do NOT fit together as is more often the case). I furrowed my brow, sighed, and in an exasperated tone said: "I just try SO HARD." 

Elli looked me straight in the eye, and called me out. "STOP IT!," she said in her uber-cool German accent. She doesn't mess around. 

It really is that simple--in life and in yoga. One of the most life-changing lessons we can learn is to slow down, let go, and just watch as everything falls into place. Elli finds ease in her life, her yoga classes and counseling sessions, and even on her inspirational Facebook pages My Holistic Coach and Agents of Change. She might make it look easy, but it's the result of years of study and practice.


Here's what she had to say about it:


Loaded Question alarm! :)Yoga is really the basis for all that I live and teach. Not just the asanas, but really the tools and mindset that it teaches us. Yoga philosophy and healing techniques are a core value for me.  I work as a holistic life coach, guiding people in all areas of life: relationships, communication, career, addictions, exercise, nutrition….and for most issues I ‘prescribe’ yogic ways of dealing with things. I am fascinated and empowered by Yoga philosophy. I do love the asana practice, but I don’t ‘need’ it. What I cannot live without is meditation, breath work, and overall yogic way of looking at things. And I offer that perspective to my clients so they can create the life of their dreams through love and compassion, instead of fear and force.

What do you love about the yoga community in Charleston?


Inspiration flows all day, especially when I slow down and rest. When I meditate and take time for doing what I love, take time to be, to rest, and to laugh, every single thing, every person, every story inspires me. I find it really helpful to understand what Inspiration is…vs. motivation. Wayne Dyer put it something like this: Motivation is when you take a hold of an idea. Inspiration is when an idea takes a hold of you. I had been a highly motivated person. But often I found myself unhappy chasing after something. Now that I learned to let go and let things flow, ideas come to me left and right, and it comes from my heart, not my head. So I get inspired when I listen to my heart’s desires, my intuition, my true self. To hear it louder,…well, I meditate. 

Elli teaches yoga at Mission Yoga in Downtown Charleston. Learn more about her work on her Facebook pages My Holistic Coach and Agents of Change.

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Someone marvellous shared this funny little graphic on Facebook, and it made me laugh out loud. Which is it's own form of yoga, by the way.  It also made me think, on a deeper level, about that question of why we go to yoga, and how what was once an exclusive and sacred (not necessarily good things) discipline of spiritual seeking has become boiled down in our minds to one word: "flexible".  Whence this post....



Now that yoga is fantastically popularised and pretty much mainstream, the average modern yoga student probably isn't familiar with the roots of yoga, beyond knowing that it originated in India a long time ago (like, when movies where still in black and white? ;) ). Many probably remember from their parents' generation of yoga that it had some kind of a spiritual component, but our generation doesn't like having "foreign" spiritual ideas thrown at us when we go to a public space. We prefer billboards, commercials and glossy magazines telling us what the world is all about, thanks, telling us what to value, and what we are worth. We fervently defend our right to not to learn about alternative philosophies unless we deliberately choose to (it's such a chore), as opposed to considering it our right (duty) to deeply examine the many facets of an issue before making a decision. No, we prefer to make decisions first, generally in the time it takes to "like" something on facebook, and our world rewards us for having the strength of character to simplify life into clear-cut dichotomies upon which we can make snap decisions and express strong opinions. (Is it any wonder politics is f$^@#*ed??)

In any case, I won't be the first or the last writer to comment on the disconnect between the roots of yoga as an integrated practice (mind - body - breath) and the narrative of modern postural yoga. Nor will I be the first or last to conclude that hey, to each their own, and if more people are doing yoga, then great, and there's nothing wrong with just doing asana to stay healthy (or bend yourself into a pretzel, or just feel good) and that being the end of it.

And to be honest with myself, and you, as a yoga teacher I play my own part in perpetuating the dominant narratives about yoga. In my classes, I teach 95% asana and only 5% pranayama. Sometimes I teach "fancy" postures. My cues and explanations focus mainly on the physical body, peppered with frequent reminders to breathe, and smile, and "be present". Most of my students, even my long-term ones, don't know about the koshas, or the doshas, or prakriti and purusha, or moksha, or any of the other fundamental building blocks that shape the yogic worldview.

Yet not only do I know a bit about these concepts, but I relate to them, enjoy thinking and talking about them, and believe they offer a valuable perspective, one that is much needed in the modern world. So why do I help perpetuate the modern yoga narrative in all its bland, asana-focused-ness?

The truth is, I'm lazy. There is only so much time in a yoga class, and I have a cleverly designed sequence to get through, and still leave time for a long savasana.

The truth is, I'm concerned what my students will think. I believe they come to yoga expecting a work-out, and generally a tough one, at that, and I'm afraid that if I don't give it to them, they won't come back, they won't like me.

The truth is, my students paid for an asana class, not a philosophy class, and that's what I feel like I need to give them.

The truth is, I had to sign a contract agreeing not to preach my own personal philosophies during yoga class. Really. I did.  Edited to add: this is fair enough! It would be wrong to use my privileged position as a yoga teacher to tell others what to think or believe. But, where is the line between discussing yoga philosophy and "preaching a personal belief"? Some people are offended at even the use of sanskrit in a yoga class - in any case, it makes me nervous.

The truth is, my own practice is pretty much asana dominated, my meditation and pranayama having somehow slipped out and not quite been put back in.

And so I go, and I teach, and I practice, and I perpetuate the modern yoga narrative, all the while knowing that it doesn't satisfy me.


But I smile and stand in front of a class, and perpetuate the narrative, because that is what's expected (obligated?) of me and because that's what I know how to do.

Yet I believe that there is a space in a yoga studio for honest conversation. A space for education that goes beyond the physical. For the exchange of points of view, the discussion of complex concepts that can't be resolved in the time-it-takes-to-click-like-on-facebook.

A space where people are willing, have the courage, are thirsty to go beyond the physical and examine, re-examine, their relationships with themselves and the world. 

I believe in that space - and that I can play a part in creating it. That I must help to create it, each time I step onto the mat.

Readers, what do you think?

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Haven't had much to say since coming back from Randa's workshop in Bozeman last weekend. During the workshop, Randa brought my attention to an unhealthy habit in my backbending; I have a tendency in backbends (especially Kapotasana and the finishing backbends) to splay the feet open and compress the lumbar spine in order to bring myself deeper into the posture. Actually, I've been feeling this compression for a while now. It just took an impartial observer that is not myself to call me out on this, bring this to the light of my conscious attention, and give me and my ego the impetus it needs to get to work to change this habit.

So for the last few days, I have been working on really getting and feeling that inner rotation of the thighs. I've gone to the extent of putting a block between my thighs in Kapo and the finishing backbends. Not "standard" Ashtanga, I suppose, but in my case, the block turns out to be a really good litmus test of whether I'm keeping my thighs close together and innerly rotated: If I move my thighs away/splay my feet, the block starts slipping and falling; it is harder to "cheat" when one is backbending with a block.

Well, there's only so much one can talk about practice. So let me change the subject, and bring your attention to a (maybe not) totally useless factoid I just heard on the radio: According to a few recent studies, nutmeg is good for treating premature ejaculation! But then again, I suppose many of the readers of this blog wouldn't have much use for this factoid, especially if you are (a) a woman, and (b) only have sex for procreation and never for pleasure (for more details, see Grimmly's recent post on this and other Ashtanga-ulous factoids).

Now I wonder if there is Karandavasana premature ejaculation (we of course all know what Karandavasana impotence is).

Ah well, I'm boring even myself with my random useless musings here. So little to write about these days. So I guess I'll sign off now.   

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Dear readers, I apologise for the sporadic posting of late. I've been busy skiing, teaching yoga, skiing, and cooking yummy, hearty, fresh meals.

The old saying "you are what you eat" has never rung more true for me than now. My yoga practice has certainly played its part building my awareness to what I'm putting in my body. I also believe that my practice has made me more sensitive to "junk" and to foods that my body just doesn't tolerate, like wheat, which is of course a mixed blessing although a good thing overall.  Hmmmm. More on that some other time.

But now, back to the main event: some super yummy soups that are easy to make, use fresh ingredients, and will fill you with warm goodness on a cold winter's day.

2. Lentil and Sweet Potato Soup, here at lcbo.com

This delicious soup is hearty, tasty, and mixes spicy and sweet in a surprising and delicious way!

3. Creamy Celery and Potato Soup, from The Daily Green

Well, I am a HUGE lover of celery so it goes without saying that I loved this blended soup.  It's fabulously creamy without using any dairy. I substituted veggie stock for the chicken, and voila!

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Yes...



No...



Any questions?

P.S. I wasn't going to post this video of me with my wee one. I wanted to re-record my awkward instructions, but I never got around to it. But when a new video surfaced last week similar to the one above of a woman swinging her new born around coined "baby yoga" I decided to post our version of yoga and show how incredibly different the two are.

Please, oh please, stop calling the exercise in the latter video "baby yoga." OK? Thank you.

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I'm a great admirer of Edwin Way Teale's Pulitzer prize winning work about his travels across the United States during the four seasons and about his last 20 years of life on an old farm in northeast Connecticut.

I was recently asked to keynote a conference at the Mohegan Sun and took the road less traveled so that I could visit Teale's property, which is now an Audubon preserve.

Trail Wood is very similar to Unity Farm -  We have woodland, meadow, wetland, streams, and pasture.     I've created about a mile of trails thus far and we're busy crafting place names like Forgot-me-not marsh, Bluebird meadow, and Old Cart Path.

As I mentioned in my Tuesday post, the mapmaker of the Teale property will help me create a similar map for Unity.

Here are the features we'll need to name:

Paddocks - we have one for the males and one of the females

Pasture - we have a large grassy pasture which is available for our animals to graze from May to October.   We halter and lead a gender specific group from paddock to pasture in the morning and lead them back at night.

Duck Pond - we're building a duck pond this Summer for the Indian Runner ducks we'll raise this Spring.

Orchard trail - a 5 acre trail that begins at the barnyard, travels near vernal ponds, and climbs a drumlin before passing the neighboring apple orchard and descending into the most dense, oldest forest we own - 150 year old cedars, 100 foot pines, and maples.   This trail passes by
 *A hollow containing our Shinto Jinja - the shrine which houses the kami (the spirit of Unity Farm)
 *Deep forest - the oldest trees
 *Top of the drumlin - an ideal place for viewing the sunset or apple blossoms in the spring

Firefly trail - in the Summer, the fireflies congregate near a bridge I built over a seasonal wetland.    Although it's covered by the forest canopy there are many low bush blueberries, and moss covered rocks along the trail that connects the Orchard Trail to the Old Cart Path trail.  We need to name the bridge and wetlands.

Old Cart Path trail - this trail connected the original 200 acre farm property with downtown Sherborn in the 1700's.  It follows old rock walls and winds through old cedars staying fifty feet from the border of our marsh.

Marsh trail - this trail borders our northern woodlands through a dense pine grove and crosses a bridge (pictured below) on its way to our cattail grove and the football field sized forget-me-not marsh.  The trail ends where another bridge crosses the stream to a large wildflower meadow filled with bluebirds.   I recently built bluebird nest boxes and a bluebird feeder, which I'll describe in a future post.   This Spring, we're adding bee hives under the swamp maples in the meadow near the stream and bridge.    We need to name
 The north wood
 The pine grove
 The stream/bridges
 The cattail marsh
 The forget me not meadow
 The bee hive area

Orchard - This year, we're clearing an acre of poplar (as I described last week) and expanding our orchard to include additional apple, apricot, cherry, peach, pecan, and plum trees as well blueberries and raspberries.    We selected the species very carefully to ensure a staggered harvest over an extended growing season.   Here is the detail.   We're also adding additional wildflowers to the meadow to support the bees.  We'll have to name the new orchard on our map.

We purchased the property a year ago this month.    Edwin Way Teale had 20 years to develop and name the features of Trail Wood.   As soon as my first map is ready, I'll post it on the blog.

The February HIT Standards Committee focused on the Committee workplan for 2013.

Farzad Mostashari offered introductory remarks.   He noted that we need to build the foundation for stage 3 while also focusing on the implementation of stage 2.   The industry is feeling overwhelmed with meaningful use, ICD10, and ACO formation all occurring simultaneously.   Ensuring we get stage 2 right is our first priority.

A consistent theme in rest of the meeting was the need for more time to build the technology foundation for future stages of meaningful use.   As Jon Perlin put it, we cannot order the Christmas ornaments until we have the tree.

Doug Fridsma provided an overview of the S&I Initiative progress and presented the draft HITSC workplan with subcommittee assignments.    Doug and ONC staff took the 5 general categories of work, each with 5 themes that we discussed at the January meeting and organized the work based on the maturity and readiness of the standards needed.

Arien Malec offered an even better approach than ordering the work based on standards availability.  He said:

"What I would like to see is a coordinated statement between HITPC and HITSC that outlines the following elements:
1. Capability that needs to be broadly adopted to support national goals
2. Programmatic alignment for that capability (e.g., MU3/4, ACO/PCMH, etc.) both at the Federal/state and commercial levels
3. Suggested timeline for adoption of the capability (where the timeline includes stakeholder alignment, standards development, technology development, deployment, and adoption)

From that overall plan, we can derive the individual HITSC work plan."

The committee discussed this and agreed with his proposal.  The next step will be for the HITSC workgroup chairs and the policy committee to reaffirm the priorities of Meaningful Use stage 3 then we'll reorder the categories and themes of standards work  to align with policy imperatives.   We will also develop a timeline and may suggest to ONC that a stage 3 NPRM not be issued in 2013 to enable foundational technology work to be done first.

Next Jodi Daniel presented an overview of the public comment to the Policy Committee RFC. Comments on Meaningful Use issues were summarized by Michelle Consolazio Nelson.   Comments on Information Exchange were summarized by Kory Mertz.   Comments on Quality Measures were summarized by Jesse James.  Comments on Privacy and Security were summarized by Will Phelps.

Next I summarized, the recent Health Information Exchange Hearing with these slides.    Many made comments that View interoperability is gaining in popularity in addition to push (Direct) and pull (NwHIN Exchange)

Finally, Doug Fridsma and Jodi Daniel updated the group on ONC activities, ensuring coordination with Policy Committee initiatives.

It's clear that we have significant work ahead.  By next month, we'll have scope, timelines and resource proposals for getting it done in support of national priorities.

Anyone who has written anything from a term paper to the Great American Novel has felt it: That sinking feeling of emptiness when you stare at a blank Word document or piece of paper. You know you want to say something, but for whatever reason the words just won't come out. It's like someone built a dam between your creative energy and your mind and there's nothing you can do to access it.  In our culture we call this writer's block, and I learned early on that when this happens the best thing to do is get up, walk away, and hope that when I return to my computer in an hour.. or two.. or 24... the gate will be open and the ideas will flow freely. 

When I'm in the right frame of mind to write or create, it's never a struggle. The words just pour out effortlessly and when I'm done I often read back over my "work" and think to myself: Where did that even come from?

After spending some time reading Sally Kempton's new book, Awakening Shakti: The Transformative Power of the Goddesses of Yoga, I know that this creative energy is the goddess Saraswati at work (I call her Sara for short). Sara often comes to see me in the mornings when I'm drinking my coffee. Often it's right before a deadline when I'm panicked that she shows up as if to say, "Chill out, Erica. We got this." Whatever I was struggling to say comes out like magic. Voila! (All this time I was giving credit to the caffeine!

Let me put it another way. Beyonce gets help from her alter-ego Sasha Fierce when she's performoing. Saraswati is my secret weapon for writing.

In the afternoons, I imagine Sara leaves to help someone else, probably college students who stayed up too late the night before who work best after lunch. So I've always thought it was imperative to do my writing at that magic time of day where the words seemed to flow.
I never knew that I could simply ask Sara for help by imagining her in a meditation!

In Awakening Shakti, Kempton explains how to call on different goddess energies through meditation to help us with all areas of our lives, from wisdom and creativity to prosperity and beauty and more.

Growing up, I was taught that we all had God-given gifts and talents. The idea was that God decided before if you'd be a gifted artist or athlete, a whiz with numbers or a crazt scientist. Then, it's your job in life to nurture those talents, as if by working hard and learning as much as you can about something you have some sort of control over how successful you'll be in the world. The problem with this way of thinking is that it doesn't give you much reason to work hard at the things that don't come naturally to you--as if they're kind of a lost cause. But just because you're not great at getting things down on paper, for example, doesn't mean the world doesn't need to hear what you have to say. It's like saying you can't pracitce yoga becuase you're not flexible... how are you ever going to get flexible if you don't practice?

It's nice to have an experienced guide who can demystify the whole process and make it seem so-very-accessible--even for people who aren't experienced meditators. In fact, just reading the words in this book has a meditative quality. I think Saraswati must have been there during the writing process.

What energy do you wish you could cultivate more in your life? Have you ever thought about meditating on it?

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