A long time ago when my teacher was on tour, she was giving a series of talks. During that time, one day a group of punks dressed in full regalia: leather jackets, metal spikes all over, spiked hair, tattoos, etc (you get the picture) came to a program. One of my friends who was there next to my teacher went into full alert mode when she saw them in case she had to protect my teacher from them. As they approached her my teacher was just in awe of them saying how interesting they were. She started talking to them and asking them questions and invited them to stay which they amazingly did until the end of the program. A couple of days later they came back in regular clothing carrying their old clothes in their hands and they offered them to my teacher. She thank them but told them that the change in clothing was not necessary. To which one of them answered that they wanted to, that for some reason they were not angry anymore.

One of my favorite classes when I was going to college was "Art Appreciation". I learned then all the different techniques that had to be invented to portray reality on a canvas. I started to enjoy art that I used to overlook because of its simplicity. I changed the way I saw art and was able to appreciate the beauty in it. Even in things that would not have stood out for me before.

Once my teacher mentioned that many people had been commenting on how beautiful, clean, peaceful, and sacred the Ashram (yoga school) felt to them. My teacher made the observation that to create a place for the study of yoga that looks and feels like that takes a lot of effort. She said that it is important not only to recognize the beauty but how it came into being. Sometimes we look at places like that and for some reason we think that it is just like that on its own.

"The aesthetic experience is a simple beholding

of the object....you experience a radiance.

You are held in aesthetic arrest." - Joseph Campbell.

As one drives on the 5 Freeway to Highway 140 in California you can get to one of the entrances to my favorite park in that state, Yosemite. You still have to drive for some time after you enter the park to see the heart of the Yosemite valley. At the end of that drive you go through a short tunnel and at the end almost as if by magic the whole valley seems to just appear.The first time that I saw it I literally gasped as I went into what Joseph Campbell calls aesthetic arrest.

This month we have been focusing on auspicious things, things that are conducive to success. The breath, self care, and meditation are all very auspicious things. I am very much a word nerd. I am particularly interested in the etymology of words which is the study of the original use of words and the historical development of their meaning.

Uninterrupted flow of awareness towards something.

When I wake up in the morning one of the first things that I do is to chant three different Sanskrit chants which take about 15 minutes and then I meditate for about 11 to 20 minutes or more depending on how much time I have. It is amazing that I can get more done, stay relaxed and yet active when I start my day like that. I have done these practices at other times of the day too but practicing them first thing in the morning seems to yield the most benefits.