I don't know you but I have been enjoying the sun and its warmth very much lately. I have been also thinking about the beach and can't wait to be by the ocean. I have been also reminiscing about when I used to live in Laguna Beach, California. As I was looking for a photograph for this email I came across the picture above which is from Laguna Beach. I remember walking by that tower so many times. There is a small cove just  behind that tower where I used to go sit for as the tide was low. There is something healing about being in the sun and by the ocean. This is the time of the year to really enjoy that.

And just like that ... June has begun. It is starting to feel more and more like spring. I was walking after going to the movies this past week and was able to catch a glimpse of the sun setting over the New Jersey skyline. I was seeing the sunlight shimmering through the buildings in Manhattan. I had never seen sunlight so golden before. Everything was bathed in this golden light making it feel like I was in a golden city. There was a balmy feeling in the air and a light soft breeze that seemed to invite me to pause and take in the whole experience which I did for some time. Then I sat by the Hudson River for a couple of hours.

I hope you had a great Memorial Day weekend! This is considered the beginning of the summer season in our country. This is the time to be outside and be on the go to take advantage of the sunny longer days of this season. Even though it is great to do this, the yogis tell us that we can have a deeper enjoyment of all this activity if we make time to turn within. It is a constant playful pulsation that we are invited to participate in. Turning in before we turn out.

As many of you know my nephew was visiting me for a week. It was so much fun to spend time with him and show him New York City. Actually, I made the point to help him discover his own New York. The first thing he wanted to do was to go to the pizza place where Peter Parker worked in Spiderman 2. We went on a ghost tour in Greenwich Village. He is interested in history and swords and daggers so we went to through the Metropolitan museum for four hours taking pictures of swords, daggers, and armors all over the museum. We did many other things too. What was fun was to see New York City through the eyes of the twenty three year old man that he is. It was great to get to know him more and also to experience New York City anew.

Reciprocity

In 1862 Darwin was sent a sample of the Madagascar Star Orchid which has a very long nectar tube. Upon seeing the orchid Darwin predicted that somewhere in the orchid's environment there must be an animal with an extremely long and thin tongue to be able to suck the nectar out of this orchid. People ridiculed him for making this prediction. A few years later a variety of the Hawk Moth was discovered. This moth has a tongue that is about 11.8 inches long. Apparently the moth had never been seen sucking the nectar out of the orchid because it feeds at night.

In Sanskrit the word Haṃsa means Swan. In yoga philosophy Haṃsa is a mantra the represents the sound of the breath. The sound on the inhalation is represented as "Haṃ" and the sound of the exhalation by "sa". This mantra is usually used to meditate by repeating the first syllable with the inhalation and the second one with the exhalation.