I hope the Autumn season is up to a good start for you. Here in the Northeast we have started this season with some continuous light rain which has been going on for a couple of days now. This is the perfect weather for staying in and reading a book.

As I was doing just that I came across the Sanskrit word icchā which means: will, desire, longing, wishing. One of the teachers that I follow defines icchā beautifully as a "creative impulse, the pre-cognitive urge towards self expression"(1)

Hello to all of you!!!

Yes this is Jorge, the yoga instructor. It has been almost two years since I sent you my last email. I decided to open this way of communicating with all of you as we get ready to close the summer. In my walks around the city I am seeing some sunflowers that are starting to dry up. There is also the change in the quality and warmth of the sunlight. Autumn is just about to burst forth into color.

Thanksgiving Day is one of my favorite Holidays to celebrate. Not because of all the food we get to eat (calories do not count on that day, right?) but because we all get an opportunity to reflect why we are thankful for in our life. Being thankful is something that I decided to practice everyday decades ago. It is part of my daily prayer. When one practices something for a long time there are bound to be difficulties along the way. There have been plenty of times when being thankful was really difficult. It was specially at these times that I told myself that I was not just going to say "I am grateful" and move on. During those times I had to dig really deep to feel grateful.

There is a full moon in pisces tonight and thought it was a good time to start writing emails again. I know it has been a while. Yesterday we just finished the ten day celebration of Lord Ganeśa, the remover of obstacles. Tonight we have the full moon. Tomorrow, in the tradition that I follow, we start a two week period of remembrance called Pitru Paksha. During this time we remember our ancestors.

I have been following the lunar calendar for many years now. For some reason doing this makes me feel more connected to the cycles of nature even though I live in the city. On Saturday August 7th we had a new moon. This moon is said to symbolize new beginnings. We can't see the new moon so every new beginning starts in darkness in seemingly nothingness. As the moon waxes almost as if by magic it starts to reveal itself little by little. It is as though the moon is reminding us the potential that calmly rests in what seems to be nothingness and darkness. At the full moon we get the big reveal and just after that the moon starts to conceal itself again. It is cosmic peek a boo game….

"I felt in need of pilgrimage

So I sat still for three days andGod came to me

Only in the Heart can one experience the divine presence of Truth.

When the flower opens the bees will come.

Be strong then, and enter into your own body;

Think about it carefully.

There you have a solid place for your feet …