Truthfullness…

I had the pleasure of going to Sylvia’s yoga class today. I almost didn’t make it as I was tired from making music and doing computer work all day and when I went down the hill there was a slight drizzle and a chill. I had wanted to go all day though and I knew a yoga session would do me a world of good. Plus I hadn’t had her as a teacher for awhile and she always throws a great class.

So in and I went…in the back as usual…I like it there because I like to watch people…the good, the bad and the ugly…but it’s a long ways from my hippie days when things, shall we say a helluva more looser…I was going to say flowing but then that would suggest that this class wasn’t flowing which it did…so I guess it’s my perspective on the flow..I MEAN THIS CLASS FLOWED!!…At then end it had seemed like it had only just begun so it’s not about the flowing…it’s just how people relate thsee days…all wrapped up and sticking to themselves…seldom is there any conversastion between people in these classess…I guess that’s not such a bad thing either because in this messed up world who wants to exposes themselves and be hurt? And who am I to judge anyone?…Which I really am not, these are just random observations and thoughts.,.

I called this post trutfullness because Sylvia opened and closed the class reading a book where she mentioned truthfullness…it was another one of those synchronicity moments for me because earlier in the day I had been listening to Amy Goodman’s show and she had on this venzeualan poet who was talking about trutfullness in art and in memory and here was Sylvia rapping about the tao and when the tao was in harmony trucks would be built but the tao was unbalanced guns and bombs would be made which the poet was talking about when he quoted this statistic about every minutes three million dollars is spent on making guns and weapons on this planet and basically how the globe is one big factory of death and who are we to go around preaching to others about democracy when the US has been responsible for more military dictatorships in the history of mankind mentioning how Barack increased the military budget and increased the war in Afghanistan and his point was how easily and conveniently Americans forget that truth like just the other day on Facebook was gloating on how great Barrack is but then this person is a moderate centrist, the sensible mature thing to be as opposed to me who is supposedly out on the fringe.

You see I think see and feel these things and it’s one reason why I go often yoga class because it takes me off the edge in natural calm manner…

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Yoga today and the other day…

I was late to yoga class today but Christina, the teacher, is usually relaxed so it was no big deal. I don’t like coming in to late to a class because I feel like it ruins the vibes. Usually if I am over fifteen minutes late I won’t think about it. Today I broke that rule because I needed to stretch. Yesterday I had done a bike ride and two big hikes and when I woke up today I was stiff. I also had been working very hard on the computer so I needed to get out of my head which yoga does for me.

It worked. Even though I was only in class for thirty five minutes I left there feeling refresh. Christina has that effect on me.

Now on Friday again I was pushing it after a couple hard days of work and went to the four thirty class. Back in the day this had been Josh’s class but I had no idea if he was still teaching the class. He wasn’t and on that day was a subsitiute. She was late murmuring something about the city traffic. She made a big point how she was studying for the bar exam as I cared. As if the world needed just another lawyer. As if this was to show she was intelligent. It’s that kind of intelligence that has us in two wars at the moment and the collapse of the financial system. The last thing we need are more so called intelligent people. How about more people with soul.

She taught her class in a mechanical quick pace. I wouldn’t say it was horrible but it certainly wasn’t good. She finished the class and was out the door again muttering about the bar exam.

So when I come to a yoga class I never know what to expect.

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Magical light and the playfullness of life…

Magical light and the playfullness of light…how else can I describe what went down today?…taking my cue from Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “Self Representative Man,” I find the most incredible beauty in the woods behind the house. It doesn’t matter what season it is, it’s all amazing. The thing with this time of year is that with the warm weather it makes it really easy to enjoy being out there. It’s amazing in the winter as well but you pay a price freezing your ass off.

So the magical spring continued today. I couldn’t help but take several walks through the woods possessed as I was by the light. I keep having Hudson Valley Painters on the mind and Melville and all those others. Also once they put in the extension at the Temple that piece of magic will be gone. It’s why I keep trying to get the swamp. They have plans to put a parking lot there…

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The Secret…

It had been awhile since I had been to Diann’s yoga class. My back went out again a couple of weeks ago so I was laid up for a week. When I am not able to make it to the yoga class my brain begins to jelly. Laid up, I was spending way too much time on Facebook and Twitter. Since I am no longer in the demographic that Madison Avenue has decided is desirable, all tv accept for sports and my own television show suck. Hence there I was twittering away and commenting on people’s Facebook status.

Finally on last Sunday the back had loosened up enough for me to attend Christina’s class. I was a little apprehensive because I was still pretty tight but going any longer and I think I would have really started going crazy….well, some people would say I already was pretty crazy and they’re not to far off the mark but then again, I think they’re crazy so call it a draw. One reason why I think people are crazy is that they don’t do yoga, or read, or particiapate in an active life. So much of this culture reduces the individual to being a spectator. And with the advent of the cell phone any introspection and attention span is out the window. It’s a big reason why I go to yoga classes, I was raised old school. I read. I particiapate. This culture of indifference has never been my style and to cope with this miasma I do yoga amongst other things. At least yoga is part of the healthy things I do. I won’t go into the other unsavory aspects of my life.

So Christina’s class was great. She has a slow style which was totally soothing for my back. For the most part she does the posture’s along with you and she has a soothing, reassuring voice. After the class I could feel it was the right move. I had become a lot looser which is an integral part of yoga.

Into my recovery I made it to Diann’s class today. Although a lot looser, I still have some tightness. She said the rap was about her secret and she would reveal it at the end of the class. Accept for the pigeon and the lizard, I pretty much could do any posture. In a moment of connection, a lot of the class was about straightening the spine which was ideal for me. So into it we went doing a lot of twists and stretches. I started to feel really good. This coming after a night of drinking so it took some of the edge off.

So at the end of class the secret was about fear. Diane told a lovely anecdote about learning how to first swim and then dive. She was fourteen and her teacher was a cute 17 year old. She wanted to get his attention but when he bought the class to diving the fear came. We all know about that at some point in our life and so she told told us how when she finally had to go to class after bailing for two weeks with excuses she went for the dive, did a belly flop and her top flew off. She recoiled in an embarassment but she did get the attention she wanted. So it was about letting go of the fear because you’re going to get what you want in the end no matter.

After the class was over I asked one of her students who had expressed interest in a dvd if she still wanted it.

“No,” came the answer.

I had been counting on that twenty to deal with the fear…so it goes…

Diann B. from robert dene on Vimeo.

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Memory of the Street…

Most of the people down on North Greeley Avenue move fast…you see them speeding by in their designer cars oblivious to the surroundings…sometimes they give me a weird look when they see me snapping pictures in my bedraggled look…little do they know my memories of the street….when we were little my brother and I were holy terrors on babysitters…we ate them up and spit them out…after a night with us they would never come back…it didn’t bother us…we had so much fun terrorizing them…I still remember the smell of my mother’s perfume as she got ready to go out…she would put on all this jewelery and fine clothes…we sat there knowing that a fun night of terror was about to ensue…

To our dismay these fun nights of terror came to an end when our mother found this old Irish woman named Mrs. Cook…to us, she was a monster incarnate…her hair had yellow strands and her hands were tough from cleaning and washing clothes, her primary source of income…she would put up with no nonsense…when ever we tried any of our antics she would greet us with firm resistance. Despite our pleas to our mother we were told Mrs. Cook was staying.

She lived there. So did the Moores…Shawn, Leonard, Mary, Floyd….they were what passed for townies back in the day…you see unlike today where everything in Chappaqua is of high value there were part of the town that were considered sort of poor…down on this street was one of them…up by the Mobil Station across the Firehouse another and parts of Millwood…you also had John ManCuso who was the toughest guy back in the day…they were all down the street…long gone now but once so prominent…

across from the rite aid is the bus company…joan corwin is wealthy now and quite respected but back in the day she was just another townie getting the company going…I remember her driving one of the buses herself…

the rite aid itself used to be a gristedies…the kids on their cellphones have no idea as do their parents…

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Yoga The Last Two Days…

Yoga the last two days…sleepless nights…bad tv, america in the tubes and a bad feeling about those bankers…attention span gone America lost in the rythym of the cell phone text…I hear the girls don’t want to be looked at like objects but all I see them is eyeing me for what I could do for them…I know, I know…I’m too attached to the maya…I can’t let go and therefore I’m projecting my karma out into the world…it’s a valid point and I freely state it…I’ve been reading the dating blogs…tough girls who aren’t so tough…mixed up don’t know what they want…america is burning but really most people of certain age only cared if they are getting laid or not…again, there I go being attached to the maya…so, although hurting a bit I made the effort the last two days to go to class…I never regret the decision and quite often it can be a big turn around…I don’t know how much of a turn around I got from these classes but they definitely helped me to loosen up a bit..there’s not much of the spiritual from these two particular teachers but they are capable and dedicated and really who can argue with that?

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Resist much, obey little….

A videopoem taking it’s inspiration from Walt Whitman and Edward Abby. It’s about spiriituality and connection with the landscape, both urban and conntry. I have Patti Smith doing a fine rendition of Walt Whitman’s poem “Manhttan” followed Bernard White, former Program Director of WBAI talking about […]

Videopoem: Resist Much, obey little… from robert dene on Vimeo.

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It had been a week…

Due to a bad back I hadn’t been to a yoga class in about a week. There was nothing I could do about the situation since I could barely move. I have grown addicted to going to yoga for quite awhile now. It keeps me grounded and it gets me out of my head in a natural way since I do a lot of work on the computer. To come off the work edge I’ll either drink or do the yoga thing. Obviously yoga is better for you. I got up on Sunday and finally I was loose enough to go to class. On Sunday’s when I am in Westchester it means going to Christina’s class in down in White Plains. I like her class since she usually have a very mellow pace and a spiritual feel to them. I don’t mind it when a class is just on the physical side since it is an amazing workout but I like when there is a spiritual aspect to it which Christina always manages to achieve.

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