donutszenmom.com

I listen to the same CD every morning as I practice. Shakti~Bhakti by Martin Wolff.

Tyler lies down in his playpen when I roll out my mat and turn on the music. I have no idea how I stumbled upon this CD, to tell you the truth. But I love it. And Tyler seems to, too. The Cop, well, I haven’t asked him what he thinks. Best not to know, I imagine.

This morning I found a little review of the CD, along with more info about Martin Wolff. An interesting fellow from New Jersey who likes to practice Vedic chants.

The Vedic chanting brings out … this intensity of awareness, of Presence, the immanence of God, however you understand That. But because the vibrations are arranged the unique way that they are, these Vedic chants have a power to rearrange the energies inside you in such a way that there is this incredible energetic — but not frenetic —happiness.

The chanting intensifies my inner conviction that happiness and beauty are our real nature and that we always have a possibility to reach one another directly, perhaps without words at all, on this purer, freer plane of our existence. The chanting also reminds me that I can be true to my own real nature in a moment, even though I have gotten caught in some ridiculous ego-driven nightmare.

I think I should emphasize that I don’t consider myself an artist. I don’t have the usual musical skills or the temperament of a performer. But I have had the opportunity to chant in sacred settings and have noticed that often when I am chanting, the chant moves — or stills — others the same way it affects me. So I was encouraged to offer the chanting which I love; it was a natural step to make this offering more available.

I really had not planned this CD — on a retreat, the man who became the recording engineer suggested to me that we could work together and come up with something that people could benefit from. I am not trying to push anything with the CD, it is an offering and I believe it will end up where it should end up.

Thank goodness for such geekery.

My most recent spell spent at a shala has left me feeling overadjusted. So I have to mention this quote from Matthew Sweeney’s new book:

This posture is often over adjusted, analysed and manipulated by teachers and students. It may be best to leave it alone. It will gradually develop just fine without your interference.

In this case, he’s referring to downward dog. But I wonder… Once you see the direction a posture is going, once you understand the mechanics and the shape, is there really any pose to which this doesn’t apply?

Whether or not you think that’s the case, you have to admit this is a great attitude to take to a daily, life-long practice.