Simple

This morning as I sat down for my meditation I thought, "Wow - what a relief that all I have to do is just sit here and breathe for a while."

Then I realized that's pretty much all I ever really need to do while I'm on this planet.

So what's the big deal?

End of Year Program

Satvinder's school had their end of year program yesterday and the children performed songs that they have been practicing. Satvinder's class sang:

We the children are golden
and we the children are light

And we know that our hopes and dreams will grow
as we the children
make it so



Satvinder is in front row with arms up, in case you are having trouble identifying which munchkin is her...

Wanting what is

When we returned from India, many people asked me, "Did you get what you were seeking?" or "Did the trip give you what you wanted?" I haven't really known how to answer that because I figure that whatever is meant to come from it, comes. And whatever it is, I trust to be perfect.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, my first trip to India seven years ago led me to pray at the Golden Temple to meet my husband - and six months later, my wedding occurred. This time, I went to India to pray there for my family - to pray for the highest good - and specifically to pray for my marriage.

What is coming now...is not exactly what I had in mind but that just goes to show that we get what is needed, not necessarily what we want. (I don't feel the need to be more specific than that at this time - because that is not really the point of what I want to share.)

The beauty of challenge is that it is such a huge growth opportunity. And the most amazing opening is happening for me right now - in the midst of things that I did not want...but apparently, needed. My experience of God right now is so sweet and loving and kind. And I am just so grateful that I have this opportunity to learn about surrender.

Speaking of Peace...our dove story

Satvinder and I found an injured dove today and took it home to give it shelter until we could find an appropriate animal rescue. We discovered that one of the boxes from Build a Bear workshop was a great little bed for a bird. We just had the little dove with us for a few hours but we both became pretty attached to it. When we delivered it to the animal rescue Satvinder cried and cried.

It has made me realize that we need more animals in our lives.

Bed peace, hair peace

Last night we watched the documentary, The US vs. John Lennon, and I found it really interesting. His efforts for peace really touched me. Since most of it happened before I was born, there were a lot of things I didn't know about.

One thing that struck me was how much of the same crazy things are still happening with our government. It seems like at that time people were so active in speaking out against the insane things that were happening and now, here we are in 2008 fighting this war and seeing continual displays of dirty politics - again...still.

In any case, I found the documentary to be interesting, inspiring...and relevant to what we are experiencing these days. All we are saying is give peace a chance.

Ain't Nothing Gonna Break My Stride...

This was my favorite song when I was a little kid. I would sing myself to sleep with this song when I was afraid of the dark. hahaha. I wish the video quality was better - because the dancing (among other things!) is funnn-eeeee.

Princess Hearta by Satvinder

This is Hearta. She is a princess and she likes hearts. She lives in a castle and she is a vegetarian so she doesn't eat meat. She has the power to fly and she has a pet puppy named "Cower" because cower rhymes with power. She sings a song, "Hearta princess! That is me! That is me!" Her hair is so long because she is a little girl and she doesn't cut her hair and she glued on some pink hair too. That's all.

Summer Solstice..coming on up

In a few weeks we'll be heading to the annual Summer Solstice event in New Mexico (or "camping" as Satvinder calls it.) We missed last year so I'm glad we are getting there this year. For those who are not familiar with Summer Solstice, this little video gives a simple overview. There's only so much you can say in 6 minutes - and different things stand out to different people. For me, a big part of it is reconnecting with people I haven't seen all year (or in this case, 2 years), being with friends and community, and somehow through the challenges, experiences, nature, and smiles...I come away renewed.

Baby Mung Bean

Congratulations to Krishna and Ben! They had a baby today! She's a cute little sweetie named Lily!

Yay! I love when nice people have babies!

Photo Shoot

We had a photo shoot for Yoga Phoenix today with our photographer friend, Kim Blake. I'm working on a blog for Yoga Phoenix so we needed some yoga pics for that and I needed new head shots. Satvinder was our model for kids yoga - here are a few of the pics:

Frog Pose...ribbit ribbit

Cat pose from cat-cow

Baby pose - sometimes Satvinder actually sleeps this way

A wiggly little butterfly

We tried to get some new headshots of me - I prefer the shots where Satvinder is with me!

And of course, some had to involve sticking out the tongue!

Psychic Pitaji

Satvinder: Clyde doesn't have a leash.
Pitaji: Ok.
Satvinder: Guess what Clyde doesn't have?
Pitaji: A leash.
Satvinder: HOW did you know that?

It is easy to be psychic to a 4 year old.

Happy Mother's Day!

We are having a mellow day here in hot Phoenix. We went to the Japanese Friendship Garden - which can be quite serene and relaxing, I hear. There's a waterfall and beautiful plants and koi - the sound of trickling water....and in our case, the repetitious whining of "It's too hot! I want to go home. This is boring! I'm thirsty!" The reality of motherhood!




Feeding the koi

You'd never guess this was Phoenix

Pics from the week

Kids wrestling Mangala Sadhu Sangeet after community meal at the ashram


At the Zoo


Baby prairie dogs


Satvinder on the carousel

Flagstaff Weekend

We made a quick trip to Flagstaff last weekend and spent a day at Wupatki Pueblo


Dadaji, Nonni, and Satvinder in one of the ruins

Satvinder pointing to one of the desert dwellers


Close up of who Satvinder was pointing to


This naturally occurring "blow hole" sucks air into the earth at some point in the day and then during other times, it forcefully blows cold air out! I didn't even know such things existed - such a fascinating planet we live on.


Mangala Sadhu Sangeet Singh doing a Marilyn Monroe impression, standing over the blow hole

The Business of Being Born - Part 2

Back in November I posted about the Business of Being Born - a great documentary about birth in this country. Now, not only is it available from Netflix, but you can watch it for free on the internet.

So, if you haven't yet seen it, you can watch it at www.QuickSilverScreen.com.

I hope you'll check it out.

(This is me....struggling with alllll my might to resist getting on my giant soap box to express important issues about prenatal care and birth and why we have to open our eyes and make informed decisions and....oh,oh,oh struggling....Ok - whew! I made it.)

Just watch it. Really. Thanks.