Northern sky beckons a blue welcome, delicious crunchy forest floor soften the boot steps as I walk on familiar terrain, finding signs of spring like treasure scattered generously sprouting acorns, budding snowdrops shy long buds on beech, birdsong – the special one at evening and daybreak, beloved forest that I know so well and whose …
The light of the moon, pale and watery – shedding blue light to illuminate the darkness. When wounds open again, as it is to be expected. Observe, for a while, all that has happened and who you have become In the process. The past has no power to create a future which you deserve. Remain …
I have learned that trust is not an emotion you feel, but a condition you are in. The longer we practice being in trust, the wider our capacity to include becomes. It is not about being naïve, although there is an element of innocence in trust. Trust, as I have learned, means I am willing. …
I took a walk traversing known paths that criss-cross the river now dry, after the long, hot summer. My dog ran ahead, her silly ears flopping in the wind and I tagged behind stepping over smooth stones and rolling gravel. And as I walked, I imagined you next to me, or ahead or behind. And …
Each day I open the door of my heart To let in The sun The stars The moon Through the cracks And broken bits Rays of light Burst Like shards There is nothing soft About this sharpness And yet The edges are always blurred Not to heal the broken But to light the path Ahead …
The wild and noisy early summer evening envelops me as I sit on my chair in the garden. Coco lies on the cool tiles of the terrace, a welcome respite after the sudden and intense heat of the day. Already, birds are busy in the sky and the shrubs and trees. I can hear the …
I stand here as a human gender: female doing the balancing act of masculine and feminine In my space, the masculine has ruled too long through all the men who told me how to sit how to eat how to think how to act and through the women, who said nothing I want to embrace …
Reset. I gather it all in. my hands, my feet my breath. In Samasthiti. Hands to heart. Prayer position or remembering. Yoga. Finding my way back to center. Observing as breath moves the body and movement the breath. Curious how this vocabulary will evolve. Finding myself speaking, thinking like my teacher. Trusting this path to …
I find the early morning pink light as it shines on the distant snow-capped mountains to be the best in this area. Or, perhaps, it is the evening sun that sends arrows of reds and oranges to dazzle the western sky. The colours here are so vibrant, so robust and intense, I can now see …
This space that my body inhabits Is a dot in the play of things. This space that my spirit lives Is as big as creation itself. I see the clouds move and shift, Bringing colour and change To seamless and endless blueness. I listen to the waves that breath Upon the shore, time and again. …
One of my flower beds in the garden is a sea of cosmos. Pink and white and various shades in between, the delicate daisy-like heads dancing and shimmering above waves and waves of feathery wispy frongs of green. When I returned home after 10 days, the harsh winds of the mountains had toppled them over …
Always on the road, my soul path traverses unchartered terrain. It is a long winding tiny path; Sometimes hidden below fallen leaves. Often, shadowed by tall grey clouds. But there it is, always beckoning, whispering. And while I walk, I place one hand on my heart protecting that sacred place, that is mine alone. A …
The days keep rushing with a thousand thoughts swirling in my head, like restless birds all taking flight into the unknown. I want to gather them up in my arms and around my table. Invite them to stop chattering and just be for me to observe. From that moment on, and for that beginning I …
“Don’t call me lover Stop thinking ’bout it, thinking ’bout it I’m not the others We could keep it simple as La di da di da We could keep it simple as Don’t call me lover Stop thinking ’bout it, thinking ’bout it” – Melody Gardot and Sting As within so without: celebrating spring by …
Today at the river, the water gushed over polished rocks, smoothing the surfaces until they shone like jewels under the spring blue sky. And high above, three seagulls, calling in forlorn voices, flapped across – clearly far from home. A little trip, would you say? To explore what lies beyond the realms of water under …
Gentle hands of the unseen wind pushes the veils of thready milky clouds to reveal a moon – so sensuous, so full, so white and luminous. A lone queen, resting, self-assured in the generous and expansive arms of the night sky. And below, the tree-tops sway, a dance of silhouette – dark, and yet, not …
Seed sowing. Waiting. Believing. Trusting. In the midst of winter, when nature lies asleep there is still a deep sense of wonder, of what is happening below the surface, imperceptibly and yet ever present. It is the feeling you get when you are completely silent, not just without but within. And you know that somewhere …
Trust – and it will set you free. Don’t wait in anticipation for the white light to appear. Keep on moving, your feet know where you are headed. Follow your heartbeat, let its drum roll keep rhythm. And pray. Either way, you are carried and held by divine infinite love. I have …
I began clearing up the flower beds and winter is the most suitable time to do that. Here in the Mediterranean, under a more or less bright sun, this task does not seem like a task at all. I dug up the beds, cleared the weeds and checked the soil. This is such an important …
I was watching interviews with Michael Beckwith recently and in one of them he said, “Things just don’t happen, things happen just.” What a profound statement to make and it really inspired me to take a step back and examine the current situation I find myself in. For me, this is a personal change and …
We are going through a huge shift globally. Be it in the workplace, at home, within ourselves. If we could put the tools that are always available to us through our reflections, our thoughts, our practices of prayer and yoga which ones would we choose? Gratitude, for one. That is the highest vibration attitude …
Early mist covered the river that morning as I walked along its bank. And there it was, the delicate head of a pink iris. As I stooped to touch her ever so slightly, she nodded her head in all her loveliness. Shy and fragile. Graceful and gentle. Time stopped and I felt blessed to have …
Uncertain times, anxious world, one belief. I stand as the rock in the sea, against the sky. Unmoving, solid, firm. Everything passes, nothing is forever. To resist change Is to block life’s flow. Each day that dawns, brings new possibilities. Of love. Of life. Of friendship. Speak of your feelings, share your life, embrace the …
Sometimes the feet need to move while the heart cannot. Today, as I sit at the desk and have the rare autumn sun on my back, I feel the need to move on. Start shedding some weight, start afresh. It takes courage. It takes resilience. Even in the face of obstacles, I feel the need …
The earth turns and leaves fall. A divine place to begin a new journey, to leave a part of us behind. As the snake sheds the skin, and the trees shed their leaves. The wild heart beats against the chest, growing in sound, until it is impossible to ignore any more. The feet will tell …
October: Festive times ringing in in one part of the world that was and still is home to me. Remembering times of gathering with family and friends, street food that those days were simpler and so tasty, the strong scented garlands of white tuberose and rose petals that adorned all temples, heady incense perfume that …
Tiredness flows down the limbs and joints, draining and sucking life’s vitality until raw bones emerge. It is time to gather the bones and read the signs; that can lead anywhere. The journey has been long. Now we must recognize, and choose our heart above everything. That space that I can truly call I. Not …
Drops of rain fall from a grey sky, caressing each leaf of the tree next door. Like memories that tumble ever so gently, from the crown of the tree to the lowest branch, that hangs so close to the ground. In the absence of attributes and judgements, I merely watch the drops that fall and …
We break so easily, like brittle autumn leaves that crunch below the feet in the deep woods. As the trees turn from green to red and yellow, I crawl into the earth to protect our hearts from the storms raging outside. Dust rises from the ground as I fall to my knees, holding the three …
Walk the path. And when you can’t anymore; Walk another step, and another. Growth is uncomfortable and precious. And time – a single grain of sand. Of all the light there is, the one we don’t see is the brightest of all. Photo by: thewanderingambivert Swakopmund, Namibia
The path beckons to the distant horizon, I put one foot in front of the other; slow and deliberate, mindful and aware. As if all journeys are pilgrimages. To go to the next mountain, or the next country. Or to go within. Alive in the knowledge that each step takes me further from the known …
White stars rise and fall in an instance, as foamy pillowy waves crash and recede. I hear the beating of the ocean’s heart – steady and constant, loud and silent. Each moment slides into the next, pouring light and wonder into my throbbing heart. Like a lover’s kiss that is slow and intense; Moving, dancing, …
I lie in bed and watch the autumn sky brighten from the east in the early hours of the morning. First a faint hint of orange, then a more steady brightness. Very soon, the low clouds blush with pink at their tips before the light changes again. The sky changes so swiftly, or perhaps, not …
The blue of the endless sky washes over the mountain side until the rocks are bathed in purest sapphire and indigo. Sugar dust of new snow dance on the peaks, faint and slight, white light that shines through. Solitude is a blessing and silence heals, all past wounds and the ones yet to come. …
I burn the fragrant wood of palo santo, clearing, purifying, healing. The burnt black tip transforms to white ash. The process of burning is always slow. Even in the face of wind, fire takes its time. I wait and watch in patience, as the red hot ember subsides, and white ash remains. Through the …
In my garden now, weeds have sprung up everywhere, which is surprising considering the dry summer heat. But in my absence, friends have said, it rained and then the sun was out and then it rained again. Perfect weather for growth, unfortunately for the weeds as well. I find myself knee-deep in weeds every morning, …
The rawness of our times expose the crumbling reality. That what we know, lie in shambles around. Thousand shards. One must let the light in. Rumi said: Pay attention to the bandaged part of your heart, for that is where the light enters. Observe. Develop the ability to see the light that enters …
These days, it seems, the world has gone to pieces and little by little, thread by thread, it is time to weave everything back together. Maybe not to have the same pattern we had before, but new ideas, new thoughts, new ways of navigating these troubled waters. Be it on a personal, societal or communal …
What if it was me? What if I was the one who one day decided to stop loving, stop having affection? What if it was me who one day would turn my back and leave? What if I would leave decades of my life with you behind and walk away? Only to reach out to …
Every tree has a different sound. There are the waterfall trees where the wind rushes through like water over stone – gurgling, rippling, happy and smooth. Then, there are the wind chime ones. The ones that ring like hollow bamboo tubes hanging outside the door on a windy summer night – slightly forlorn and beautifully …
Image courtesy: Isha, Sadhguru The heart is on fire and like wildfire itself burns up everything it touches. Everything that there was and everything that there will be suspended between moments. Hanging on a single thread- fragile and vulnerable. There is no urgency, no rush to get anywhere, to achieve anything. Observe the …
It begins with a sharp pain in the left breast, before it spreads throughout the chest and then to the back, throat, legs, arms. Until you are breathless, although you can hear and feel your heart beat at an amazing rate, as if it will burst from its rib cage. And you are surprised that …
Trust. Such a magnificent attribute and yet so heavily mistreated, misunderstood, abused in so many forms. Mostly, in relationships the key element that creates destruction is trust or the lack of it. With an atmosphere of trust, all need for monitoring, surveilling and all the ugly aspects that demean human worthiness vanish. In this secured …
To truly understand kindness and how it surrounds our lives, it is important to embark on a voyage. Sometimes even unknowingly, we find ourselves at a threshold of life where we need to choose one path from many. It is when we traverse across the thresholds that constitutes new beginnings and endings that the kindness …
See the water, clear as glass flow over green threads of silky algae holding to the rocks at the very edge. Our dog splashes about, sniffing, enquiring, exploring. Further up, from underneath the huge boulder a tree has taken roots. Sending its long thin stems upwards, shiny leaves dancing under the sky. See the canopy …
The night is still and calm, a pleasant and welcome change from the winds that has blown down from the mountains, sweeping across the plains in furious gusts. I open the window fully to the sweet nightingale song that fills the air, travelling over the rooftops from the distant bit of dense forest. I am …
When I move to a new place my first need is to discover the various paths and ways that lead through the mountains and forests. I have been lucky enough to have lived in various countries and various towns and have in the course of my wanderings found deer tracks that led me across the …
These are times when I feel equally sad and frightened. The current happenings in US cities are, if anything, a truthful presentation of the condition of our society. It fills me with deep sadness to see the desperation that in search for justice goes berserk. I find it hard not to judge and yet, and …
Today as I sit at my desk and write, the sun smiles down from a summer blue, slightly hazy sky. Summer has arrived in all its wonderful glory, from blue skies to blue seas. And the remnants of winter and spring as a slight chill in the early mornings and late evenings that comes down …
The vastness of the sea with its ebb and flow, the waves that forever crash on the shores, fill me with a longing. For I know not what. This deep wordless isolation and unity all at the same time. I did not have to travel to discover this love. Love found me and still holds …
My yoga mat waits while I try to find the equilibrium that has been missing the last few days. It could be the weather switching from hot to cool to rain in rapid succession, it could be the sheer exhaustion of going through these weeks of lockdown, the absence of social contact or rather the …
Spring always brings with it an immediacy that arises from an idea of situation and place that can hardly be surpassed by any other season. This is more evident in the colder northern climes where a change is more perceptible. In the south, where winters are milder the seasons slide in and out of each …
Once upon a time, not so long ago, a younger me went walking through the forests of the village where I lived before. It was a beautiful spring afternoon, the air full of birdsong and heady perfume of hawthorn bursting in the hedgerows. My dog went scampering in front, her tail high up as she …
Am I faulted? Oh, yes. Am I drinking too much wine these days? Yes, I am. Am I also feeling like a cad, doing so? Yeah, kind of. Am I wasting where I should be saving? Yes. Am I in full awareness of this. Hell yes. I choose to have more wine than I should, …
Week 5, checking in. How are you my friends? Take up that space right between the chest and stomach when you inhale. It seems odd, these times, so out of place, and yet the more time passes the more we find this is normal. The daily routine, the waking up, the coffee, the news, the …
If I choose to be free today, what would I do? Am I living in a bondage, a prison? Bondage can come in various forms. I need not be imprisoned physically in a cell or room. My imprisonment, or lack of freedom, which I guess to be true of most people, is a mental state. …
Hello dear friends, we are in day 24 of our lockdown in France. How are you feeling? Are you anxious? Fearful? Or maybe hopeful that spring has arrived. That the birds are singing, chattering away nineteen to a dozen from every bush, every tree. Are you relieved that the sun has begun to warm up …
Before the dawn came Long before the light crawled under the cracks of the door, the world outside paused. For a breath, Or two. Or maybe for many eternities. I do not know. I was asleep. I only felt the breath of darkness on my skin. And in that moment I …
There was a time when I took things for granted. The dance of the sparrow, the tiny buds on a tree unfurling on a fine spring day, the rain that sang on the tin roof, the delicious fragrance of a favourite dish. Youth has that quality of unwonted carelessness, and yet carrying with it such …
Years ago, I was at the Louvre and stood in line to see the Monalisa. The first thought I had in mind was how small it was. I stood on my toes to see above the heads of Japanese tourists as I struggled to see the painting now behind security glass. It was the first …
Are you who you are today, right now? Are you being yourself, maybe a little I-don’t-care mood. Or even, what-is-this-all-worth. Perhaps, I-don’t-give-a-damn. Because even if you feel reckless, helpless, overwhelmed, don’t judge yourself. There is no right or wrong way to be on this path. It is okay to be who you are, embrace it. Spend …
Do you have a central thought that you start your morning with and that you keep repeating to yourself throughout the day, especially in times when you are anxious or worried or angry or hurt? Today, I started with the thought: I want to be the best version of myself. And believe you me, that …
Down in the valley, where I lived before moving here, at the turn of the road where the main road swerves right into the village, there is a cottage on the left-hand side. In fact, if you drove too fast, you would not even notice it. The cottage lies far back hidden behind tall pine …