Crossing the Digital Threshold

Last week on the Selway I had the pleasure of sharing my raft with Alan and Pam from Massachusetts. Alan sat in the stern, behind me in the fishing seat and Pam was in the bow, sitting on the padded box. 

In order to get to the "Put-In" for the Selway, Pam and Alan rode on a little Shuttle Bus with Ari, the lead guide and outfitter and all the other guests. About an hour and a half into the ride the shuttle bus passes out of cell service. This is the point of digital silence — a significant threshold for all of us these days for some people more than others. Crossing the digital threshold on the put-in drive to the Selway removes a person from the digital networks for six days. Silence. No ringing. No messages. No email. Unplugged.

Alan is a successful Architect.  Just before leaving to come out for the river trip he was feverishly putting a plan together for some luxury condominiums. It was a very big deal and had been taking up most of his attention. He had actually been on his cell phone as the shuttle bus crossed the threshold. Done. Cut off. No more work. No more condo design and planning. He depressed the power button and shut down his phone. 

On day one when Pam and Alan boarded my raft they checked in with eachother constantly. 

"How are you honey?"

"Good honey, how are you"

"Good, good."

a few seconds pass..

"Oh I got splashed! Did you get wet, Honey?"

"I did! Are you having fun?"

"Yes, are you?"

A few more seconds..

"Are you having fun Honey?"

"Yes are you?"

"Definitely"

With Pam in the bow and Alan in the stern, they were speaking over and through me to maintain their connection, so I heard everything - felt it too. They clearly loved eachother and were excited to be on the river. It was wonderful to be in the middle of their affection and excitement about running the first eight miles of the Selway. 

That night we camped at Archer Point, a grassy flat terrace on the left bank sprinkled with Native bunch grasses, Doug Fir, Ponderosa pine, wild rose, Syringa and the lobey-petaled Clarkia. 

The next day I noticed that Pam and Alan had settled in. They were less talkative. Quieter.  When they spoke I noticed their voices were slower and resonated at a lower pitch. 

As we floated down the river that morning Alan sat in silence. I could not see him as he sat behind me but I could tell that his head was swiveling around as he gazed up at the high walls of the river canyon and then down into the clear waters and the rocks below us as we glided over them. He was taking it in. Looking around and appreciating the grandeur of this special place. 

All I could hear was the dipping of my oars blades in the water and periodically the call of the Swainson's Thrush - a delightfully bubbly song of high tones and trills. Then would come Alan's quiet, reverent voice.

"Oh my God."

More quiet water sounds and songs of birds and insects. And then Alan again...

"So beautiful."

This went on to some degree or another for the next five days. This wonderful man, loving husband and father, diligent and successful professional was taking a break and allowing nature to soak into him. He sat, undistracted in the back of my raft and marveled at the pristine and tender wilderness of the Selway River. 

Being across the digital threshold helped Alan to connect deeper. He knew he could not be contacted— that he was truly out of the office. Places like the Selway are rare these days. Cell towers and their fields of influence have crept into most regions of the world. There are few places where a person can go for a protracted time and not be under digital/cellular influences. The office can be anywhere. 

Of course, I can choose to shut my phone down and impose this state artificially. Or, I can leave my phone at home or in my car and go walk in the city park with the intention to Return to Earth. 

Disconnecting to Reconnect takes vigilance and intention. It is worth it though. The states of appreciation, attention and reverence like those that Alan attained while sitting in the back of my raft are priceless and critically important. 

Turn off your phone or leave it behind and go take a slow, mindful walk in the woods. 

Fly Rods are Nerves

This week on the Selway River I am rowing a fishing boat. It's the later part of the season and the drinkable river is low. More rocks, less water in the river, less space for the fish and thus higher concentrations of them per cubic foot. The fly lines will be whipping back and forth out fore and aft as I pull my wide brimmed hat down over my eyes and ears and make sure to always wear my sunglasses. I have been hooked in most of my cerebral orifices at one point or another over the last 26 summers.

Some people think that fisherman terrorize the fish and that it is yet another instance of man hunting, killing, penetrating nature for his own entertainment and enjoyment. That we live in a society where it is not necessary to harass fish - that it is in some way immoral.

I do not ascribe to that notion of fishing. Most fishermen I know are also stream and river conservation activists as they understand that the health of the riparian zone and watershed in its entirety correlates strongly with the health and vitality of the fishery. Trout Unlimited is a great example of such advocacy.

I see fishermen and women as sensualists - feelers.

They smell, watch and sense the river on varied levels. Their awareness extends to the bottom of the river through the middle layers, up to the surface currents. They closely observe the behaviors and presence of "hatches" - when new waterbugs and flies are emerging at certain times of day or in certain sections of the river. They mimic what they are seeing in these hatches with their choice of fly which they tie to the end of their tippet - the long, gossamer thread that extends off the end of their leader which is a nine to twelve foot long section of fishing line. The leader is comprised of three to four different sections of line going from thick to thin. Once the fly is attached to the end of the leader the fly-fisher-person whips their rod back and forth over their head to get the line to shoot out of the rod eyelets so the fly lands delicately on the surface of the water sometimes fifty to sixty feet from the boat as I angle to get them in the best position to land it in eddies and cushions and seam lines that will produce hungry, fat trout.

Once the fish is hooked, the rod bows down to the water and quivers with their struggling escape attempts.

This process is dependent on a collection of filament line, carbon fiber, and the delicate and precisely engineered gearing of the reel.

The rod is a nerve— an extension of the fisherman's  brain and spinal cord.

They feel the river and sense fish. They think like fish. They have fish for brains.

The rod is a dendrite in the "organism" that is comprised of the boat, the fisherman, his rod, reel, floating line, leader, tippet, and fly. From thick to thin - the entire flexible, feeling quivering system is a high tech, highly evolved piece of technology that allows the person with the rod in their hand to sense and to feel and to watch and to join with - become one with the river, the fishery, the bugs, the eddies, the cushions, the rocks, logs and all other members of the diverse community that is a river.

And so as I float down the river this week beneath my hat and sunglasses rowing upstream for six to eight hours to maintain good access to the best fishing holes on the river I will see two of these "nerves" flicking back and forth and laying down quietly and predatorily on the surface of the drinkable river. The three of us will watch those flies - the end of the nerve that hopefully will be sipped, nibbled and bit down on by the cutthroat and rainbow trout that call the Selway home.

After hooking them and bringing them next to the boat we will gently release them with nothing more than slight perforations in their lips. We will watch them swim away and disappear into the deep dark green of the flowing river in search of bugs and flies that are real, protein filled and not made of animal hair, feathers, and synthetic materials.

The fly rod is a way for fishermen and women to connect and to throw a nerve fifty or sixty feet into the beautiful fecund and fertile mystery that is the watery drinkable depths of the Selway.

Breathing With a Drinkable River

Last week I had the opportunity to make another video about the Selway River where I am currently teaching and guiding. I find these images deeply relaxing and calming, especially when I breathe along with the soundtrack using my Ujjayi Pranayama breath.

I encourage you to take three minutes to sit and breathe with these images of this very special river. It is incredibly pure and clean. Many people who spend time with the Selway drink its water untreated.

Delicious.

Namasté

Intimate Relations With a Tree Part One: Tree Reiki

If you are reading this, you're probably a biophile - a lover of nature. You take nature as your lover, or you'd like to. 

Love, mutual attraction is the force that holds the natural world together. Nature loves nature. And since we humans are part of nature, we love it. Deeply. When I slow down and take the time to connect consciously, sensually, and mindfully with nature, I feel healed. Complete. Re-Membered. 

Discovering and maintaining natural connections is what my work is about.

The more I witness, appreciate, and love "all my relations" — the more natural, healthy and calm I become.

I think of my relationship with trees and plants.

Every breath I take is the exhale from photosynthesizing plants, algae, grasses, herbs, and trees. And in turn, I exhale CO2 into the mouths and nostrils (stomata) of my green sisters and brothers. That's intimacy. 

• Asking for Permission •

To prepare for a tree breath I first choose a tree to connect with and I approach it. 

I ask Tree and the Earth around Tree if it is OK that I come into the space. I say in my mind or out loud something like "Tree, may I stand with you?". I wait for an answer. Usually it comes as a feeling. If I feel an invitation,  I move closer, stopping at the outside edge of Tree's energy-field/aura. If not, I move along and ask another tree until I find the right one.

• Tree Reiki •

At the boundary of Tree's energy field I look up and marvel at the mixture of sun, shadow, leaf, needle, branches that make up the crown - the food factory and I imagine all of the fluids, sugars, hormones that are being created and pulsing through the intricate, sprawling vasculature. I close my eyes and imagine the gentle and constant cascade of Oxygen from thousands of stomata - tree mouths exhaling sometimes hundreds of feet above my head. I do my best to really SEE the oxygen molecules coming down - their substance - their mass. They have some. Not much, but some.

I move closer and break across Tree's auric boundary which might extend out from the trunk ten to fifteen feet. I walk to within a few inches.

I hover my hands a quarter inch from the trunk. 

I soften my palms, making them receptive. They are a source-point for the energy exchange between us. I feel my feet, grounding all four corners. 

I focus on the arches of my feet and feel bolts of energy coming out of them into Earth. I am rooted. A flow of energy comes from Earth and moves into me - Earth energy coming up into my feet and out through my palms, bridging the quarter inch gap between me and Tree. I'm plugged in. I maintain attention on my palms and arches. I maintain balance through all four corners. 

Inhale. Exhale.

I check-in with my knees and make sure they are slightly bent. Locked knees obstruct the flow of energy from Earth. Slightly bent knees are best as they keep the channel open. 

You can experiment with hovering your hands over different parts of the tree and in different positions to find the spot where you feel most plugged-in. 

Open your Heart. 

Feel it. Bring your attention to the center of your chest - the location of the Heart Chakra at the sternum. Feel the energy exchange there. Slow your breathing to at least a four count inhale and a four count exhale. Pranayama. Slower the better, pausing at the top of the inhale and the bottom of the exhale. Perfect. 

That's tree Reiki. Stay here for as long as feels comfortable— pay attention to palms, arches, slightly bent knees, all four corners of feet grounded. Always returning to the breath. Breathe consciously and slowly as you begin to approximate the much slower respiration rate of Earth. 

Beautiful. 

You can come home again. 

River Breathing Meditation

Rivers have been and continue to be some of my most powerful teachers.

I have been intrigued by them since I was very small. I would play in creeks, streams and rivers whenever I could. I still do.

My Mom, Jeep Lindsay was an elementary school teacher but for two summers in the late 1970's she became a river guide on California's South Fork American River. She took me down my first stretch of  whitewater when I was nine years old. It made an impact. I could not believe that a person could actually do something like that for a job or that adults could have so much fun at work and in life. The river bug had bit me.

At the age of nineteen I got my first job as a guide and quickly journeyed to various drainages in North and South America to ply my new trade and live a life as a guide. I was fortunate enough to see some sections of canyon that are now flooded behind dams. I had grand adventures and lived and worked with some of the most vibrant, hard-working, honorable humans I have ever known.

I continue to guide rivers.

Over the years my relationship with them has morphed and changed. As a younger man I went to the river with a need to prove myself, test my mettle, take risks and be daring and strong — an ego trip. I acquired pictures of myself captaining rafts through rapids such as "Troublemaker", "Clavey Falls", and "Confusion". I gave them to my parents as gifts.

I shot and produced whitewater videos of kayaks and rafts navigating foaming rapids. My focus was on the people and their experience. The drama of "man against nature" was the unspoken yet obvious story I was telling.

These days I don't seek to define myself and others as conquerors and heroes, focusing instead on the river itself. I sit at the feet of the river and acknowledge it as the Teacher that it is. My time in Nature is about my desire to connect - to both receive and BE received by my Larger Body.

I still put people in my river videos but the river, water, and canyon are the stars of the show now.

The soundtracks have changed too. Instead of victorious, haunting or dramatic music I use mostly natural soundscapes. Lately I have taken an interest in creating nature meditation videos with the sound of Ujayi Pranayama breathing.

These are breathing meditation videos. My intention is for the viewer to use their Ujayi Pranayama breath while they watch, that they slow down, and drop into their body.

Here is a video I shot last week while guiding and teaching on Idaho's Selway River.

Please set aside three quiet minutes to sit mindfully and breathe with this short meditation. Notice how the sounds and images affect you.

Namaste,

Joe

RTE and Yoga

Yoga is a multi-billion dollar industry. There are as many different styles of yoga as there are teachers it seems. This flourishing of yoga practice has led to better lives, healthier bodies and minds for millions of practitioners.

At RTE,  yoga is one of the Primary tools I use to Return to Earth.

My yoga practice has helped me return not only to Earth but to my own body as well. I inhabit my body when I practice yoga. I sense it and feel it and how it is affected in its relationship to the Larger Body of Earth. Yoga teaches me to return to embodied awareness. And at its core it is about breathing: Ujayi breathing which is done slowly with a slight constriction of airflow at the back of the throat.

I started practicing seriously in 2004 when I began a two year residency at Esalen institute on California's craggy central coast. While there I had the opportunity to take some classes from a very special man, Mark Whitwell.

In the 1960's and 70's Mark studied for several years in the Indian Himalaya with Krishnamacharya and his son TKV Desikachar. Krishnamacharya is considered the teacher of the teachers. His teachings go far, far back into the 8,000 year tradition that is yoga and represent the Heart of Yoga - the foundation and true teachings.

This is also the yoga of Mark Whitwell - The Heart of Yoga.

When I first began studying with Mark I was surprised by how relaxing and mellow his practice was. At that time I thought yoga was about bending myself into shapes and forcing myself into difficult poses for hours on end.

Mark's Heart of Yoga is surprisingly slow, gentle and powerful. It is breath focused. He teaches that, "the breath initiates the movement". The breath comes first and the body follows. The focus is on the breath. Not the body.

One day last Winter,  I was thinking about this idea and practicing my Ujayi Pranayama breathing while standing chest deep in a pool of water.  When I inhaled deeply and slowly my arms would gently float out from my body.  My arms moved up as my lungs filled with air and back down as I exhaled. My arms were following my breath. The resistance from the water made my breath and movements easier for me to observe.

Inhale arms up. Exhale arms down.

This feels right. When I inhale I naturally expand: my chest inflates, my ribcage enlarges and my arms naturally begin to move up and out.  I continue the movement, bringing my hands up and over my head. When I exhale I naturally shrink down as the air is expelled from my lungs and I get smaller and deflate. A forward bend seems a natural place to be at the end of a deep exhale.

Inhale expand. Exhale fold forward.

_____________________________

A few weeks ago I went on a hike with my Mom to a beautiful meadow in the Eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains in California. We practiced some yoga and I made a short video to show what this kind of yoga looks like. I hope it is instructive for you and that you are inspired to go to a natural setting and try it.

Namasté

Earth Abides

Once there was a National Forest ranger named Rick that worked at Indian Creek Guard Station on the banks of the Middle Fork Salmon in Idaho's Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness where I have worked and lived many days as a guide. 

Rick would orient the guests to the wilderness, ministering about camp ethics, cultural and natural histories, welcoming them to this special and profound piece of Earth they were about to spend a week floating through. I remember Rick as an excellent interpreter and storyteller. People listened to him.

A crucial point he would make during his talk was that designated wilderness, parks, monuments, and forests like those of the Middle Fork, were "apparently wild" places — that they had been set aside as particularly inspirational, beautiful, and pristine. "Hey everybody! Travel to these places and see how beautiful and wild and inspiring they are!"  

AND

That kind of categorizing might lead a person to think that these designated areas are the only places where the wild Earth flourishes. This of course is false. 

The wildness of the Earth is an abiding force.

It is everywhere— beneath us in all times and places, not just in the "apparently wild" spots. It is everywhere. It's under the concrete, steel and glass. It's always with us , supporting and sustaining. 

I am never not on or with the Earth.

Reflect on this. Feel it. Gaia is there. She loves you. 

Earth Abides. 

Thanks Rick. 

Solstice

For those inhabiting Earth's northern hemisphere,  today is the longest day of the year - and in the south, today is Winter solstice - the shortest day.

In the North, the photon river, flowing from the sun is hitting us at the most direct angle for the most number of hours. Photosynthesizers will have their longest shifts today, creating the most food and growing more today than any other.

Today, northern hemispheric rivers will flow highest with sun-melted snow running out of their watersheds. The pulse of all Northern watersheds will be highest and most thrumming today. More snowflakes will melt and flow from high mountain crags in the Rockies, Sierra Nevada, Cascades, Tetons, Windrivers, Rubies, Alps, Himalaya and countless other mountains. All of these ranges and their drainages today will be flowing at peak sun-induced snow melt.

You Northern Gaians try this:

 - Go to a natural setting.

 - Connect to the earth with all four corners of your feet and give a slight bend to your knees, dropping into your body. Slow your breathing and open your heart to Nature.

- Now feel the liveliness of this day: the growth and activity of all the photosynthesizers, the flow of the creeks, rivers and rivulets. Imagine that you can feel the slow heartbeat and respirations of the Earth beneath your feet as it is bathed in the most intense flow of Life force from our star, the Sun.

The sun is the source of all life and today is the day it lavishes life and love on us most generously. The Photon RIver is in flood stage. Feel the roar.

Breathe it in and feel the truth in your body.
 

Feet

In order to return to earth more effectively I have to think about what parts of my body are doing the connecting, actually touching the Earth. This brings me to my feet. I am almost always connecting to the Earth through my feet. They are on the ground and connecting while I walk or stand. It is only when I am lying down that my feet are not touching Earth, though my heels are. 

Many teachers of Yoga have talked about the power and importance of focussing on the feet. The feet of the ancient yogis were often referred to as divine lotus blossoms - foundations on which the physical body is built. The feet are holy - even sacred. 

Sacred Holy Feet. 

There are many asanas (yoga postures) that focus on strengthening and increasing flexibility  and dexterity of the toes and feet.

Some teachers have described the feet as an extension of the root chakra - that the arches of the feet - 'foot palms' - are like miniature root chakras and just as powerful and important when it comes to building a strong foundation for all standing poses. 

My feet are two branching roots that penetrate the Earth and lead up my legs into the base of my body at my Root Chakra. 

Try This: 

- Go to a natural place. 

- Allow yourself to be drawn to a certain spot— a particular tree, rock, or open place. Follow your intuitive heart and remember to listen. 

- Take off your shoes. 

- Stand with bare feet on the Earth.  

- Rock forward and then back. Now come to a spot that is neither forward nor back but balanced in the middle. Now do the same thing, only rocking left and right. You should now be balanced on all "four corners" of your feet— equally balanced in the centers of your feet - Neither forward nor back, left nor right.  

- Your feet expand and spread-out on Earth.

- The arches lift slightly as the outside (pinky-side) edges anchor into Earth. 

- Imagine and feel your feet becoming like little tents of muscle and bone - like suction cups, attaching you to Earth. 

- Give a slight bend to your knees. 

- Breathe slowly. 

- Earth energy and power are now flowing into you.

- Stay here as long as it feels right. 

__________

I encourage you to try this exercise in different locations. Do you notice a difference near flowing water? In the desert? At the base of a tree? A larger tree? In a wash or dry creek bed? 

Stay open and pay attention.  

Know Thyself

A sense of place. Something people have talked about.

It is a pretty simple idea really. It is knowing a place. But not just knowing it like you know a fact or two. It's knowing it on a personal, intimate, sensual, physical level. It is knowing where the hills are in a place and the low spots - those carved ravines and creeks and rivers that wind through and cut down into the earth where we live. To know how steep a river bank is or a ravine or to know with your breath and body and legs how high a hill is- the one that some people climb to watch the sunset or to stack rocks in significant shapes.

Gary Snyder the California poet from the Yuba River drainage says, “Find your place on the planet. Dig in, and take responsibility from there.”

Gary's words speak to me and I also feel a certain kinship with his place because it is in some respects my place as well - the Yuba Drainage in California's Gold Country. Gary lives out on San Juan Ridge and I was and still am a "townie" living up the left bank. 

Know the trees, the flowers, the insects, the mammals, the landforms. I can do this through naming these things and giving them labels and I can also take the path of relationship and relatedness - of knowing the smells, the sounds, the calls, the feelings. Enter into a sense-based, a sensual relationship. 

I do this through my sense perceptions. I ground into the Earth and soak in, allowing it to grow up inside of me. 

I do this through mindful sitting, walking, and breathing. 

Inhale. Exhale. 

I feel that connection. I am that connection. 

I am part of everything. I am nature, watching and marveling at myself. 

Sense-Based Photographs

Jeep Lindsay uses her nose to connect with Eastern Sierra Wild Irises - June 2014. 

I use my body and my senses to connect to the Earth. It is a sensual activity and exercise. It is through my body that I make that connection and it is by becoming more connected to my body and its senses that I can connect to my larger body, OUR larger body, the Earth. So to a large degree, Returning to Earth is Returning to my Body - re-inhabiting this body which comes pre-programmed with a vast array of sense capabilities that enable me to sense and to feel on various levels. 

When I look at a tree or a rock or a low lying shrub, succulent or flower I am becoming more intimate with the body of the Earth. I am coming in for a Landing. Coming in for an Earthing. I do this also when I smell a Ponderosa pine and revel in the butterscotch or pineapple scent that I smell there, with my nose wedged into a cleft in the puzzly bark. I am connecting. The more senses I can employ in my connection and relationship the deeper I am able to go. 

An exercise: 

Go to a quiet natural place with your journal in tow. Pick a spot to sit that is appealing to you. Be still. Take a moment to just BE there. Is this the right spot? Change and move if you need to in order to find the right place to be. Find that place that feels right. 

Now awaken your senses and imagine yourself as covered (as you are)by tiny stomata - holes. The pores of your skin are these portals from the Earth's body into your body. 

Now, imagine that you are inhaling and receiving through all of these portals - that you are exchanging information with the Earth inside of which you sit - like a fish in an aquarium - you are immersed in and part of this larger life - this larger body.

Now take out your journal and list off the five senses with the word "I" in front of each one. 

I see...

I feel...

I hear...

I smell...

I taste...

and a sixth (which is my favorite) 

I feel in my heart...

Now finish these sentences and do so with as much detail as possible. Really get into it. Feel free to write multiple sentences -even a paragraph or two for each one. List ALL of the sensations that you are experiencing in that moment. You are writing out a detailed and specific description of what it is really like to sit where you are - it is like a photograph - a sense-based photograph that, when read in the future, will conjure the same feelings and sensations that you experienced while you were writing it in this mindfully chosen natural spot. 

When I do this journal exercise I notice that it takes me deeper in my connection. I methodically go through the senses and take note of each sensation that I am having. I draw threads of connection from my body to the body of the Earth. I am weaving a web. I mindfully list off all of the ways that my senses are connecting me to Nature and are enabling me to notice, to pay attention, to be mindful. This is observation. Being the witness. "the watcher" - one who notices and observes. This is a deeply relaxing and beautiful practice and I have noticed that it calms my heart and soothes my mind and body when I take the time to do it. Try it. 

Enjoy!

A new virtual particle: Listen-ons

I am not a scientist, but I dabble some. Sometimes I take a scientific concept and mix it up with my emotional/spiritual belief system and see what emerges.

The particle. It's an idea I like to play with.

At the smallest level - down in the quantum realm - the world is comprised of particles: gluons, higgs bozons, photons, gravitons, electrons and vanderwall forces maintaining space between all things so much so that some physicists actually state that nothing touches anything. Matter is comprised mostly of empty space.

As I list particles I see that many of them possess the requisite "ons" ending.

Last night I went to a Men's gathering here in Ashland, Oregon where I live. Recently, I have noticed that the quality of listening in the group has deepened - that brothers are really taking the time and the presence to show-up and listen to one another. It's palpable sometimes.

There have been moments where I feel like I can almost see the listening it is so present— that when another person, or a group of people take the time and the energy to be still - to face the speaker - to look at him, to witness him, to give him full and undivided attention and to allow silence to settle-in when he takes a breath or pauses....

It is a presence that feels almost like honey - a viscous, warm energy that holds our circle of brothers together as one of us speaks from the heart into heavily witnessed space. It's beautiful and so rare— this quality of listening - the lack of interruption. Exquisite.

In addition to being mellifluous and viscous I feel mindful listening has a particulate character.

Listen-ons: particles of listening.

Last night  in circle I saw and sensed listen-ons flooding the room. They made up the honey-like envelope of witness that held us. They were emanating from all brothers present— a steady flow of listening particles bathing the room and creating that quiet reverent presence that nourishes like nothing else.

I felt like I had listening for dinner last night.

Eating up some listening. Listen-ons for the brothers.

This quality of listening is at the root of Returning To Earth. Noticing things. Listening. Being present and mindful in nature. To listen is to send out listen-ons.

Giving listening substance is a powerful visualization exercise. It has deepened my ability to be present and to witness Nature.

The body is the riverbed, and spirit, the rolling water - Rumi

Ujayi Pranayama

Conscious, mindful breathing is the most direct route to Earth Connection.

Ujayi pranayama is an ancient yogic breathing technique that I learned in yoga class. I breathe this way when walking or sitting mindfully in nature too. It helps me connect to my body and to the nature that is my body. When I breathe this way, I feel more alive, awake, sensitized, and ready to connect with my larger body, the Earth.

Here's how I do it.

First, I take a few moments to notice how I breathe normally. I watch.  I take my time and watch for four or five cycles. Then I begin to lengthen my inhale. Now the exhale. I try to make them equal.

I breathe with my mouth open at first. I tighten the muscles at the back of my throat, slightly restricting the flow of air in and out of my windpipe. It makes a deep kind of hissing sound. Now I close my mouth and inhale and exhale through my nose only, maintaining the deep hissing sound which some have described as...

..."the sound of the ocean."

I pause for one to two seconds at the top of my inhale and again at bottom of my exhale. I try and slow my breathing down a little more and increase the length of the pauses.

Breathing in this manner while sitting comfortably in nature is deeply relaxing, meditative, and calming. I notice that it slows me down. I don't think as much. I notice more. I am in my body and out of my brain. It sets the stage for further work. 

I enter a state of communion and connectedness.

Ujayi Pranayama adds strength and conviction to any physical or meditative practice. All Returning To Earth curriculum is  more powerful for me when I breathe in this way. It is part of the RTE foundation. A tool we should all have in our kit.

When I engage my Ujayi breath, I notice the boundaries and borders between me and nature begin to dissolve and are lost. I feel, breathe, and live the oneness.

You reconnect with nature in the most intimate and powerful way by becoming aware of your breathing and learning to hold your attention there. This is a healing and deeply empowering thing to do. It brings about a shift in consciousness from the conceptual world of thought to the inner realm of unconditioned consciousness.

 - Eckart Tolle, Stillness Speaks

Hydrophilia

Tenderness is an aspect of spring, which surrounds me as I witness Gaian fluids flow down rivers and creeks, swollen to capacity - frothing at their banks a liquid brown rushing: Spring, high water. 

The juice is flowing.

It is the time of new growth bursting forth - of blooming and unrestricted, natural flow - a time of great allowing - there is an openness and a birthing that the land is feeling and expressing now. 

Also increased is the flow of sunshine - the photon river is rising and filling its banks - building in intensity until the 21st of June when the torrent of life and love-light landing on Northern Gaians will reach flood stage. 

As the photon river pours its life force and warmth into the Earth, the photosynthetically charged rivers of xylem sap and phloem sap flow up and down through Spring trees with increased intensity and duration. New growth rivers.  

Chlorophyll-rich leaves receive/inhale the Photon River, combine that energy with Xylem Sap (water and nutrients carried up from the roots) and create Phloem Sap, a sugary, hormone-filled fuel to grow the lush, green crown and nourish all parts of the tree - down to the tiniest of root hairs. 

This flowing factory is diurnal— a daytime show.  It stops at night and re-ignites in daylight.

A scientist from Cal Tech once devised an instrument to measure the girth of trees down to a few microns. He found that when the sun was shining that tree's trunks were narrower, presumably from the tension caused by the xylem's upward current. When darkness came and photosynthesis ceased, their trunks became more girth-some. When the rivers of xylem and phloem cease to flow, they settle and the base of the tree swells - slightly. 

In Spring, many rivers flow: water river, photon river, xylem river, phloem river. All of 'em. Life is liquid - life has juice. It IS juice.  And trees, though woody and straight and strong - are filled with liquid rivers and are just as tender and dependent on water as we mammals. 

When I sense and feel the rivers within and without I feel more connected to all life through our mutual love of water.

Hydrophilia.  

Dendrite Breathing

In the beginning there was the dendrite. And it was good.

                           Human Nerve Cell

At least as far as fleshy, water filled life was concerned on planet Earth.

And it continues to be about this.

Lena River Delta- Russia

Arteries of the neck.

leaf veins or "vascular bundles"

The Internet

FiberOptic Cables for Internet

More examples in these photos...

The dendrites I am most fascinated with are the ones in my body.

They enable me to feel, and sense the world - it hinges on this branching circuitous, undulating curviness that inhabits my body— pervades, infuses it. Every tube, channel, system follows one of these patterns. I am perfused with dendrites, running solidly through me. I am a dendritic creature.  

A suggestion:

Next time you're out for a walk in the park, sitting in the backyard, or even gazing at the plant on your desk. Look for the dendrites, hunt them out and appreciate them - celebrate them - reach out and touch them and sense them and know that without them - life would not be life. THat this is the shape of connection- of biophilia — of mutual attraction.

It is through the dendrite that nature exhibits its love for itself, that all exchanges are made.

I think of my lungs.

I am using them as I write this and you yours as you read. Inhale…. exhale… inhale…. exhale. . . my autonomic nervous systems making it all possible. I am "being breathed".

And on and on and in and out the air flows. Of course our lungs are packed with bronchioles - micro channels, filling and expelling a mixture of oxygen, nitrogen, co2 and other gasses that make up Earth's air.

Clear breathing is one of my deep pleasures. I am grateful for my breath. I am conscious of it. . .

When I was eight years old I developed asthma...

...and became more aware of air's journey into and out of my body through my bronchioles. I would imagine them loosening up, effortlessly filling with air as my chest relaxed, and blood returned, causing them to become pink again. Sometimes the visualizations worked - other times not. There were inhalers to use.

My folks were splitting up at the time and I believe my asthma's arrival was related to this. The container of my childhood was changing drastically and my body was reacting by clamping down on airflow. It was frightening. And I still sometimes have difficulty breathing. . . usually when I get anxious I start yawning and feel like I cannot get enough air. . . Scary.

To bring this back to my and your connection to our larger body consider the branching, dendritic patterns found in our friends, the Trees. See them in your minds eye and travel from their bases, up their trunks - now to the branches, spreading until finally out to the bushy masses of twiggy fingers, spreading out — reaching into the sky.

And sprouting from the ends of the thinnest of woody twigs come the leaves and within the leaves -  the veins and the sub veins and sub sub veins down to the smallest, hair like filamental channels along which the tide of sugar surges and pulses - fruits of the solar-powered food factory that is photosynthesis.

And also on the leaves there are the stomata - the openings - the mouths of our plant brethren. It is through these tiny orifices that gasses are exchanged - the CO2 exhaled by me for example is inhaled through the stomata in the trees leaves - gratefully inhaled - what is my waste the tree inhales hungrily and uses it as fuel for the creation of the sugary syrup through photosynthesis and then the oxygen, a tree waste product is exhaled out of the leaf - which I then breathe in. Luscious rich oxygen - the expelled gasses of tree metabolism. Tree farts.

As I look up into the bushy branching dendritic, chloriphyllic green, juicy, lush thrivingness that is a tree ...

...I am looking into the other half of my lungs. Bronchioles for me and stomata and vascular canals for the leaves of the tree - I exhale, she inhales, she exhales I inhale - it is a sensuous connection - my moist exhale is inhaled by the tree and her moist and fecund exhale is inhaled by me. Moisty to moisty. That's sensuality.

Sometimes when I am engaged in a tree-hug...

...I will look up into the crown and visualize a gentle, consistent rain of Oxygen settling down upon me and the ground at the base of the tree, just piling up all over the place— somettimes I feel like I'm knee deep in it.. That's what's happening.  I inhale deeply with my head back and then bring my head slowly back down to look directly into the bark, exhaling now, powerfully into the trunk of the tree, imagining stomata in the bark (even though I know there are none there- its part of the visualization) - then I bring my head back turning my face upward and into the gentle shower of oxygen.  I inhale again as the cords on the front of my neck stretch back. My lungs fill with the sweetness.

Dendritic gift exchange with the tree brethren.

Ministry

RTE is:

- softness
- vulnerability
- allowing
- opening
- receiving
- inhaling
- spongyness
- slowness
- mindfulness

When I go to nature and embody these ideas, I feel loose, supple, and my shoulders,neck, solar plexus and belly feel more relaxed and natural. I am ready to receive - to inhale deeply. Let go and connect.

I am a soft, fluid-filled, fleshy animal - like a sponge.

My soft, receptive sponge-body moves across the soft, flowing, fleshy body of the Earth. We meet: fleshy body to fleshy body. Earth geology is a body - it is our larger body, and I can interact with it through all of my senses (and I have more than five). I soak up nature. I inhale it from 360 degrees around my sponge-like body.

I nuzzle, roll-in, bathe-in, wipe myself on the body of the Earth.

I meet nature in as open and available a state as I can. I feel the calming, constant, supportive, all pervasive love that connects all things - Love - the force that comprises the thready strands in the "web of life". Love Love Love -  connecting and attracting all members of the Earth community. Mutual attraction/love holds nature together.

I walk slowly and mindfully into the forest. I take time to listen to my intuitive heart and sense of aesthetic - I allow myself to be drawn-in — seduced. I follow my intuitive heart. Trust it completely. Peace and healing come to me the more I am able to open and receive - breathe-in and imbibe the healing/loving energy of nature.

Barriers and armorings do not serve me here or anywhere. I choose to drop them and trust that I am safe, loved and nurtured by nature. She's got my back. I trust.

I have patience. I can wait. I am not in a hurry to get anywhere.

My intention is to simply BE where I am in nature and to engage and to feel as many attractions and magnetisms as I can and to revel in them. I exist to connect, participate and interact.  I am here to witness and to celebrate the beauty of the creation.

A sermon.

Care and Feeding of a Warm Grape in a Vast, Cold Expanse

At the very tail-end of the rather anemic winter we had here in Southern Oregon, I went for a nice long ski tour in the mountains just south of Ashland where I live. I toured out to one of my favorite spots on the flanks of Mt. McDonald where I sat down (on my sit-pad) and took a little time to connect, drink some tea from my thermos and just BE.

While skiing out to my spot I was exercising and plenty warm - at times having to slow down to keep from sweating as I know wet is something that I do not want to be in a snowy environment.

I arrived at my destination warm and wearing a sun visor and t-shirt (wooly) on my upper-half and ski-pants down below. After stopping it was critical to maintain the heat of my system - my warm grape. After all, I am merely a bag of warm water out in the vast and cold mountainous expanse of the mighty Siskiyou Range. I needed to work quickly and in an organized fashion in order to maintain the heat I had generated from the ski-out to this spot.

I made a short time lapse video of the process to illuminate how a clothing system works in the real world.

Had I not layered up and sat on my sit-pad and had a thermos of tea I could not have sat and enjoyed that spot for nearly as long as I did.

Having the right gear and knowing how to use it to stay safe in an environment such as this is critical if I am to have enough time and energy to connect with the Earth.

I am a tender vittle — as we all are: warm grapes.

Take care of your grape. Keep it warm. Keep it cool. Keep it just right.

Palms Up. Palms down.

In yoga class last week. My teacher, Reanna, mentioned that when sitting with crossed legs, we should sit with hands on knees and with palms up and open.  

When she said this I was resting my hands palms down so I switched to palms up. I felt more open and also more vulnerable with my palms up. It was not a sizable difference but it was noticeable. I felt closed with my palms down and more open, soft and vulnerable with them up and open. I was able to receive more from the sitting and from my own breathing with palms up.

Sit cross legged on the floor or on a yoga mat on the floor and alternate between these two hand positions.

With palms up I am opening a current that brings energy from the surrounding area into my palms, up my arms, to the center of my chest at my Heart Chakra - this is enlivening and calming and feels great.

With the palms down I notice no such energy flow. The current does not flow and I notice almost no effect.

Interesting. Just a simple rotation of the wrists and I am able to open the channels to the power of the world around me. I do not have to be in the yoga room or somewhere special to try this. I do it any time during the day - especially when I am feeling like I would like to bring in some of the calming and grounding energy of nature. I just simply open my hands and rotate my palms heavenward.  Nobody has to know that I am doing this. I can do it in a board meeting or at my workstation, at the post office - anywhere, anytime.

Try it. See what you notice.

Outdoor Clothing-Plan Hack: "Dude-Building"

It is disappointing, and in some situations, dangerous, to forget certain items...

...like the time I forgot my sunglasses on a sunny day of back-country skiing, and gave myself partial "snow blindness" or sunburned eyeballs, which felt like someone had stuffed my eye-sockets with sand. And the time I forgot my warm hat — maybe not dangerous, but definitely uncomfortable and cold. I have learned that it's good for me to have a system for remembering all my gear.

Enter, “dude-building” (DB). It's not just for dudes. All people need outfits. It's just what Dave called it.

He was my room-mate in college and into climbing mountains. Clothing systems in high alpine environments are technical and complicated - various kinds of gloves, hats, glasses, goggles, insulating layers and so forth. In order to make sure he had everything, he'd take all of what he thought he needed and he'd throw it in a pile on the couch in the living room. He would then "build his dude" on the living room floor.

Dude-building (DB) is simply laying out all clothing in the shape of a person lying on the floor.

Dave would say, "Dude needs some long underwear" and he'd lay them down. "Dude needs a warm hat", and he'd place the hat above the neck hole of his long underwear. "Dude needs to brush his teeth" and so on.

Lay all your layers out on the floor and see them in the shape of a person. Everything: socks, hats, gloves, underwear, rain gear. Then you'll see if you've forgotten something or if you could take something out depending on the weather and where you will be hiking.

That's it. This makes it pretty hard to forget anything.

Here's a demo-video to familiarize you with the process.

This particular DB is for Chilly Late Fall or Cold Early Spring.