Tulips are without a doubt my favorite flower, and I love all flowers. My birthday is in April so I feel an extra affinity for this jewel that blooms during this month. Just wanted to share some luscious pictures..
Archives for posts with tag: photography
I have been quite taken as of late with images of flower x-rays. Last year my friend Heather, made an incredible encaustic piece for me commemorating my metamorphosis thru the cancer dance. She chose some x-ray images of flowers as a nod to the array of tests I underwent. I loved seeing the delicate “bones” of the flowers. The inner architecture, the scaffolding that supports from the inside. Remembering how fragile and beautiful and delicate this life is. Enjoy.
I worked long and hard on a Valentine’s Day posting and….it vanished as I was trying to publish it….hmmmm….
So I leave you with some sweet images and advise you to be loving to yourself first on this day. With every word, thought and action, ask yourself, “Would I treat someone I love like this?” Tend to yourself with your full love and attention, and then spill that out into the world.
Today, and every day. We will all be the better for it. Love, Jodeen
I realize it has been awhile since I have written, (I miss it, but other pulls as of late) I am writing one for Valentine’s Day, but in the interim wanted to share some glorious horse images I have found. As we just moved into the Year Of The Horse ala Chinese New Year, I went searching for images. I resonate with Horse immensely. Independence, wild spirit, nature, travel, movement, separate yet connection to the herd. I have had horses in my life, still ride when I can, albeit infrequently, still nothing matches being able to commune with that kind of power and energy. I swear that February 1st, I felt that I was shot out of the starting gate, mane and reigns and in hand and picking up speed each day. Finding very clear intention as I fly to see what lies over the next hill, surrounded with love…..hope you enjoy these.
I adore david whyte. love his words, the pictures he paints, the feelings he holds up to the light. the only thing I love more than his poetry, is listening to him read his own work. entrancing.
this poem has been going through my head a great deal lately, and as I was driving back from a yoga workshop in McCall across this landscape, it rang loud and clear. I wanted to share this. hope it touches you the way it has me.
the winter of listening
“no one but me by the fire,
my hands burning
red in the palms while
the night wind carries
everything away outside.
all this petty worry
while the great cloak
of the sky grows dark
and intense
round every living thing.
what is precious
inside us does not
care to be known
by the mind
in ways that diminish
its presence.
what we strive for
in perfection
is not what turns us
into the lit angel
we desire.
what disturbs
and then nourishes
has everything
we need.
what we have
in ourselves
is what we cannot know
in ourselves but
what is true to the pattern
does not need
to be explained.
inside everyone
is a great shout of joy
waiting to be born.
even with the summer
so far off
I feel it grown in me
now and ready
to arrive in the world.
all those years
listening to those
who had
nothing to say.
all those years
forgetting
how everything
has its own voice
to make
itself heard.
all those years
forgetting
how easily
you can belong
to everything
simply by listening.
and the slow
difficulty
of remembering
how everything
is born from
an opposite
and miraculous
otherness.
silence and winter
has led me to that
otherness.
so let this winter
of listening
be enough
for the new life
I must call my own.”
david whyte
when you are a teacher and no one comes to your class, it is exceedingly difficult to not take it personally. “what have I done to piss someone off? do I smell? am I not as funny as I think I am? have they finally discovered that I am completely unqualified to teach and the “emperor’s new clothes” gig is up?”
this is usually what passes through my mind under such circumstances, but recently I have had an opportunity to shift that, and to enjoy an empty studio all to myself.
at the beginning of September I started teaching 2 classes at a dance studio as part of their seasonal class offering. Balance Dance Co. is a pre professional modern dance company that caters to girls age 12-18. they are a marvelous company and some of the best dancing I have seen, period, has come from them. I was present at the first ever performance, when my daughter lily was 6 months old. Lily went on to dance with the company for 3 years. Leah, who is the director is a friend of mine and I have taken many classes in the studio myself over the years. when Leah asked me to be the yoga offering, I was very excited.
any space that you can dance or do yoga in, excites me greatly, and so to be able to teach yoga in a dance studio, was extra special. I had a Thursday and Saturday morning offering and was ready to go. my first Thursday I had a dancer and her mother, and we had a great time. they loved the class, but weren’t sure that the time would work on a regular basis. they ended up being my first and last students…
so for 6 mornings, I got myself up, rode my bike to the studio, was the first one in the building and got to have a ballet studio to myself. after the first 2 times of the disappointment of no one showing, I began to savor my private dance time. I would warm up, do yoga, lead myself through a ballet barre series and then…I cranked the music and danced. on two separate occasions I had a friend join me and we ended up doing a specialized private session.
the light was beautiful in there. high windows with vast open sky in every direction. it was always warm and quiet. the sound system respectable. what a gift.
during this time frame, the entire city block in every direction was torn up, access almost impossible and convenient parking a vague notion. I am certain that this did not help my situation at all.
eventually I got the email, “we are really sorry but we need to cancel these classes due to lack of attendance.” understandable and unfortunately a ballet barre class that I was taking in the studio (me being the only student) was also cancelled. so it wasn’t just me…
so apparently, I need to have Thursday mornings off to take class else where from one of my favorite teachers and I get Saturday mornings off so that I can sleep in, snuggle, drink coffee, and make my way to a dance class at the Y at the very civilized weekend hour of
11:30. as these 2 classes have fallen away, other subbing opportunities, as well as workshops I will be teaching have presented themselves. more time for me to take classes for my enjoyment and continued learning and inspiration. in the losing of something there creates space for something else to come in. something new and exciting.
so I am ever grateful for those 3 weeks. not only did I get to have a beautiful studio all to myself….i got paid to be there.
now, that is a bonus to my gift. thanks leah…
(that's me) in the corner 