Earth Yoga: Greening The Deserts Of The World

This tree is massive! The trunk is about 8 feet wide.
This tree is massive! The trunk is about 8 feet wide.

Yoga is a practice of recognizing the interconnectedness of all things, and skillfully living in harmony. So, naturally, that extends beyond the human family and into the rest of the earth…

I found a new friend today in Audubon Park, behind the zoo in New Orleans’ Garden District. It’s a tree, and a magnificent one at that.

Yes, I consider trees my friends. For one, they breathe us humans and create an environment where we can live. So that’s a practical reason for a grateful relationship.

But beyond that, I admire their beauty and meditative existence. They basically breathe, grow, and drink of water, sunlight and the nutrients in the soil. They are steadfast. Any time I need grounding or need to let go of heaviness, all I have to do is spend a little time with a tree… Meditating under a tree is one of my favorite ways to get centered.

What about you? What aspect of nature do you feel most drawn to?

It’s amazing what is possible when we work with nature, listen to her rhythm, and add symbiotic innovations of human design to more harmoniously co-exist.

Check this out: It is perhaps the most inspiring video I’ve seen in a while!

Spiritual Practice In The Most Bizarre Places

halloween-anusaraPicture this: It’s Halloween night in New Orleans. Downtown is throbbing with music, laughter, costumes and a penetrating ‘ting’ of one elf looking creature walking along as if in meditation.

Yep, that would be me. Complete with forest green cloak and a bit of petrified wood in my hair. This is the story of my fantastically weird night out in the wilds of the French Quarter, and how I brought light into even the darkest places.

The Twilight Of The Year: A Talk With Anusara Yoga’s John Friend

Anusara-MoonLet me paint you a picture.

It’s Halloween in New Orleans. Eminem, Kiss, and Lenny Kravitz are headlining Voodoo Fest. There are more parties in the city this weekend than you could possibly count. It’s famed the most haunted city in America, and notorious for wildness and playing the edge of having a good time. Even the cemeteries, ornate and prominent, seem to communicate that, yes, this is a place where anything is possible and the dead still hold presence here.

Into this scene steps John Friend, founder of Anusara® yoga and an all around totally profound, down to earth, highly educated good guy with a great sense of humor and storytelling ability. He has come to speak to a room of the curious about the magic and tradition of this time of year. Here is a summary of his talk…