Monday, November 15, 2010

That's How the Light Gets In



Last week's message was about standing where you are, unafraid to be with what is most real for you. I was extremely touched by your responses to my letter. Many of you responded to my email with real and honest stories about where you stand, many of you came to class and practiced standing tall despite our challenges, and I'm sure many of you read the message and perhaps forwarded it on to a friend or simply walked silently into another week with increased courage to be exactly where you are. One lesson that writing these newsletters has taught me is when I am the most genuine to my own heart, when I am real, it invites others to be likewise. Not just back to me, but I hear the stories of how people are moved to be genuine to their spouses, families, friends, and strangers. This is the real message of yoga for me. Yoga literally means union. I'm honored to be connected with you in this way.

I feel honored to practice this union not only through the healthy benefits of moving through our bodies, reducing stress in our lives, yes, but in the important work of the nit and grit of every-day life, the practice of every-day living. It's apologetically showing up on the yoga mat and/or in life and simply speaking to where we are. Doesn't have to be pretty.

So I've been thinking of another cool way for us to practice this union. It's with song lyrics. Yep. I did an experiment on Facebook recently and I want to try this out on a bigger scale. I'm interested in the words, set to a groove or a melody, that have spoken wisdom to you, given you courage, or simply made you think. I feel that some of the most powerful poets of our time, those so able to speak to place, have been standing behind a guitar with three chords in their heads and a mic in front of their mouths.

Here's what you do, one of two things: You can click on the "B" at the bottom of this message that says Blogger next to it. This takes you to the comment section of my blog. Write a line or a few lines of lyrics that have moved you, include the artist and the song (you can sign your name as the one submitting the lyrics if you want), then click on "anonymous" and the big orange bar that says "publish your comment." The second way is through Facebook. If you Facebook, click on the "F" at the bottom of this message and on my page you'll see other people's posts with their favorite song lyrics. Add your favorite by commenting on the post. That way everyone who comes by these list of comments, either through my blog or Facebook, can read everyone else's words. This will be a fun way to connect with each other.

I'll start . . .

"Ring the bells that still can ring.

Forget your perfect offering.

There is a crack in everything,

That's how the light gets in."


Leonard Cohen in Anthem.

See you in class.

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Ring the bells that still can ring.
Forget your perfect offering.
There is a crack in everything,
That's how the light gets in." --Leonard Cohen--Anthem

Scott

Anonymous said...

SleepyHead Sun
By Chris Rice

You are the gift, you are the proof
The Lord looks down and warms my roof
You are the light, you are the sign
That I am loved and life is mine

Margaret said...

Just dance
Gonna be okay
Do-do do-do
Just dance

(I'm serious about this one:)

Just Dance--Lady Gaga

Anonymous said...

Spring Wing
by Greg Brown
posted by Tim

Children go to sleep now-- you know it's gettin' late.
I know you don't like to miss nothin' and school ain't that great.
Oh, I'll dance with you when you're happy, and hold you when you're sad, and hope you know how glad I am, just to be you're Dad.

Anonymous said...

Sounds of Blackness
"I Believe"

I believe in the power and I never, ever doubt
Every minute, every hour, I believe
I believe in myself 'cause I know I'll get my help
From the power in the sky, I believe
No need askin' where I've been, just ask me where I'm goin'
'Cause I won't be ashamed to tell ya
I live my life knowin' all the roads ahead of me
Are filled with peace and love

Annie

Anonymous said...

imagine all the people living life in peace
you may say that i'm a dreamer
but i'm not the only one
John Lennon
and lots of other stuff he wrote too!!

Anonymous said...

"Show the Way" by David Wilcox
posted by MaryBeth

It is love who mixed the mortar
And it's love who stacked these stones
And it's love who made the stage here
Although it looks like we're alone
In this scene set in shadows
Like the night is here to stay
There is evil all around us
But it's love that wrote the play
For in this darkness, love can show the way

Anonymous said...

Jeffrey Foucault's Northbound 35:

Mustang horses, champagne glasses
Anything frail anything wild
It’s the price of living motion
What's beautiful is broken
And grace is just the measure of a fall

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8m97uzFYA4

(posted by Celeste)

Anonymous said...

"If there's ever an answer, it's more love."

The Dixie Chicks

And, "It's a happy enchilada and you think you'll drown."

Robert Earl King, Jr. but you have to hear the story that goes along with it.

Carolyn

Anonymous said...

We Carry On
by Tim McGraw

And we carry on
When our lives come undone
We carry on
Cause there's promise in the morning sun
We carry on
As the dark surrenders to the dawn
We were born to overcome
We carry on

Anonymous said...

"Remember what they say
There`s no shortcut to a dream
It`s all blood and sweat
And life is what you manage in between"

October
By Broken Bells

Anonymous said...

Lyrics:
"All I ever needed was right here but I had to reach way down inside and have faith I would find no fear"

Artist: Terri Clark
Song: No Fear

Deb

Anonymous said...

Damn, certainly great topic. How can I get that subscription?

Sara Meetington
bug sweeping

Anonymous said...

See the child
With the golden hair
Yet eyes that show the emptiness inside
Do we know
Can we understand just how he feels
Or have we really tried
See him now
As he stands alone
And watches children play a children's game
Simple child
He looks almost like the others
Yet they know he's not the same
Scorn not his simplicity
But rather try to love him all the more
Scorn not his simplicity
Oh no
Oh no
See him stare
Not recognizing the kind face
That only yesterday he loved
The loving face
Of a mother who can't understand
what she's been guilty of
How she cried, tears of happiness
the day the doctor told her it's a boy
Now she cries tears of helplessness
and thinks of all the things he can't enjoy
Scorn not his simplicity
But rather try to love him all the more
Scorn not his simplicity
Oh no
Oh no
Only he knows how to face the future hopefully
Surrounded by despair
He won't ask for your pity or your sympathy
But surely you should care
Scorn not his simplicity
But rather try to love him all the more
Scorn not his simplicity

*Sinead O'Connor*

Anonymous said...

well, i'm stalling this story
gonna fill it with glory
cause there's no place to go but up
and i'm changing my outlook
cause looking inward
wasn't always a good place to go

and i hold my head now
with a tear in my eye
cause i don't really care no more

oh, it's those little things
that eat at your soul
and i'm not gonna worry
about them no more

i came a long way


Artist: Heartless Bastards
posted by
elizabeth

Anonymous said...

The Wailin' Jennys - Heaven When We're Home

There's no such thing as perfect,
and if there is we'll fnd it when we're good and dead
Trust me I've been looking
bu tonight I think I'll go and take a bath instead
And then maybe I'll walk a while
and feel the earth beneath me
They say if you stop looking
it doesn't matter if you find it
And whose to say that even if I did
it's what I'm really looking for

Anonymous said...

"When you live in this world
It gets in to who you thought you'd be,
And now I laugh at how the world changed me,
And I think: life chose me, afterall."

Afterall, Dar Williams

RyanPleune said...

Thank you Scott for modeling and practicing sacred activism. Through your teachings I have learned more deeply how to show up in my life.

Thich Nhat Hanh "Do not say that I'll depart tomorrow
because even today I still arrive.

Look deeply: I arrive in every second
to be a bud on a spring branch,
to be a tiny bird, with wings still fragile,
learning to sing in my new nest,
to be a caterpillar in the heart of flower,
to be a jewel hiding itself in a stone." Thich Nhat Hanh