Finding Peace in the Middle of Chaos

It is not uncommon for my mind to be chaotic even when I am in a peaceful setting. I long to get to the point where my mind is at peace regardless of how much chaos is around me. I have a long way to go to meet that goal.

I am getting plenty of opportunity to work on that issue in my Amritapuri Tai Chi class. Tai Chi, by its nature, is meditative. It slows down my mind and body more than anything else I have ever done.

I would guess that most Tai Chi classes are held in peaceful settings with soft music playing or silence in the background. The place where our class meets in Amritapuri is gorgeous. There are palm trees, views of the beach and the Arabian Sea, eagles flying overhead, etc. As I’ve mentioned before, though, there are also trucks, bicycles, buses and cars that occasionally go through the space where we meet.

With most of life’s lessons, it seems like once you have adjusted to one level, another dimension is added. This year has definitely demonstrated that process. During my first class, I was stung by a red ant. It is amazing how much a bite by a tiny ant can hurt. In fact, the bite was still stinging hours after the class finished.

Soon thereafter, a red ant hill showed up at the perimeter of the space we use for the class, so it has been important for me to stay conscious of that danger, and to make sure new students are made aware of it. (I have stepped on a red ant nest twice in the 27 years I’ve been coming to India, once in the daylight and once at night. It is an unforgettable experience; one I hope never to repeat.)

Starting with our second class, students taking a silent meditation retreat have done a walking meditation in front of us during part of our class. They don’t disturb us but I’m tempted to watch them instead of staying focused on my own work.

In last week’s post Be Like a Bird Perched on a Dry Twig, I talked about the third class when there were even more vehicles in the area than normal. Midway through the class, a truck pulled into “our” space and parked. The workers got out of the truck and started carrying their supplies to the nearby construction site. Since their work had priority, we had to move to a smaller area, one that was bordered by 8 ashram cows lounging in the shade!

Tai Chi is so powerful that it was reasonably easy for me to find that place of peace and contentment even in these circumstances, although I certainly didn’t have single minded focus.

On my fourth class, another set of challenges were added to those that I have already described. (BTW, the cows have not returned to the beach, at least a that time of day, since the third class.) The fourth class was held on a weekend, the first weekend since Amma returned from her European and U.S. tour. The crowds coming for darshan (hugs) were very big that day. At one point, there were 14 vehicles parked on the beach.

Then something new happened. At first, one or two village men started removing carts of sand from the beach to somewhere in the village. Next, two women started a chain. One woman would carry a big pan of sand on her head and walk to a spot next to our class. She would then shift the pan to the head of a second woman who would carry it out to the main road. We often had to divert our path to stay out of their way.

Fifteen minutes before that class was over, a cement mixer started making its piercing noise in the construction area near to us. By that time, the whole situation had become funny.

During the fifth class, a third woman was added to the chain of sand carriers. On the sixth, there were all of the previous challenges, except the cows. In addition, a new layer of sand had been added to our area 0f the beach. The sand was beautiful and felt good on my feet, but it hadn’t been compacted yet, so there was no smooth or level ground to walk on. That made doing the Tai Chi moves much more difficult.

As you can see, doing Tai Chi on the beach in Amritapuri is definitely an opportunity for me to find peace in the midst of chaos. It is also an opportunity to see the humor in the situations that arise in life.

To look at previous posts in this Amritapuri series, click here.

Weekly Photo Challenge: New Horizon

I have spent several days at Saraswati Gardens helping in the dye area. One day last week, Padma noticed how much color was still left in the pulp after she made marigold dye. We decided to dry it out and see if something could be done with it.

The next day, the pulp still wasn’t dry so I separated into smaller pieces and placed it on cotton and silk fabrics. I thought it would dry better that way plus it gave us a chance to see what effect it would have on the cloth.

As I was distributing the pulp, I kept looking at the newspaper I had originally spread the pulp on. The color that was left on that paper was a vibrant yellow.

By the next day, the idea of using the pulp to dye more cloth was discarded as it was obvious that the color it produced was too light.

Two days ago, the dye project staff finished the first prayer flag made using dye only from Saraswati garden flowers. I think it is so beautiful.

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The first flag below was colored with marigold dye, the second was from a rose dye, and the third was dye made from madder root. The dye for the yellow strip that goes along the top was made from turmeric root.

The dye used on the first flag below was made from turmeric root; the second is indigo and the third is rose.

The first flag below is another one dyed with madder root, the second and third are both from marigold dye with one being a lighter version than the other.

Since I’m learning a bit about making dye from plants this year, I have wondered whether or not I will start making dyes when I return to Seattle. Growing the flowers sounds right; being creative with them sounds right; but at the moment I don’t feel called to dye cloth.

Last night, I thought about the bright yellow marigold dye I saw on the newspaper when I was working with the pulp. Then another memory came to me. Many years ago, I was intrigued by handmade paper. At the time, I wanted to learn how to make it, but never did.

Maybe in my retirement, I will make paper and find ways to dye it using flower petals or roots, or maybe even leaves. Or perhaps the flowers and leaves will be used in other ways, such as in this photo of papermaking in Burma.

paper_making_burma_5 — Photo Credit: Wikimedia

Is papermaking on my horizon? It very well could be.

Weekly Photo Challenge: New Horizon

To look at previous posts in this Amritapuri series, click here.

Amma Quote

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The success of one’s life depends upon one’s ability to forget what is not relevant at the moment.

Amma

Borrowing Worry

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“In essentially all individual moments, we’re safe and physically comfortable. We generally have to borrow worry from the future or the past to maintain unhappiness.”

Fritz Reitz

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Rara is one of my most favorite bloggers. She is so creative and her posts are unlike any others. I also love that she is so full of love and that she can go through the most difficult of situations and still “be” love.

Song Lyric Sunday: War Zone

Each week on Song Lyric Sunday, Helen tells us that it is fine to choose a song that has nothing to do with the prompt’s weekly theme. I’m taking advantage of that option this week so that I can present a song that addresses current events.

T.I., a rapper from Atlanta, Georgia, recently released a music video that shows “the reality that this country is living in.” T.I. remarked that he wanted the content to be “powerful enough to create the type of dialogue necessary to inspire some form of change.” The video is definitely not easy viewing but it is thought provoking and makes the point in an unexpected way. I believe it is well worth watching.

May the violence end soon.

Lyrics

Can’t you see we livin’ in a war zone?
Guess you don’t notice when you livin’ in it
Like every weekend it’s a man down
Ain’t got no pity for the innocent so I’ma represent it
Dedicated, tell ’em,
“Hands up, can’t breathe
Hands up, can’t breathe
Hands up, can’t breathe”
Hands up, can’t you see we livin’ in a war zone?They left his body swangin’ down in Piedmont
At a Klan rally the day before, but that ain’t mean nothing
Witness said suicide, I said genocide
Hey what you got a gun for? Boy you ain’t finna ride
They run up on you like Baton Rouge, bet you finna hide
That’s the difference ‘tween us, I’ll die to save a million lives
Appointed leader when nobody couldn’t think of shit
I’ll be a martyr if my great grandaughter benefit
They pull you over, ask you where your license at
Be careful reachin’ for it, you know you can die for that
And this ain’t nothin’ new, just got cameras so you can see the shit
Got Dr. King and Abe Lincoln askin’ where the freedom at
This ain’t no equality
Man you ain’t have no justice on your mind when you shot at me
But fuck it, this the way it gotta be
Hey listen, you won’t shoot at them then shoot at me?
Boy you are not a G
Imagine Trayvon askin’ why you followed me
Feel threatened, hit him and whip him, that’s when he shot him down
Do that to a grown fuckin’ man, drop where you stand
Tell my grandma go on with all that prayin’
If it’s a God and he in the sky, he looking down, he understand
I’m just a man, and I’m wrong for revenge
But I don’t get ’em it’s like tellin’ him to gon’ kill again
Keep fucking around, it’s going to be on in a minuteBoy we livin’ in a war zone
Guess you don’t notice when you livin’ in it
Like every weekend it’s a man down
Ain’t got no pity for the innocent so I’ma represent it
Dedicated, tell ’em,
“Hands up, can’t breathe
Hands up, can’t breathe
Hands up, can’t breathe”
Hands up, can’t you see we livin’ in a war zone?

This goes to the white boy that ran in the old church
I hope you get slow murked, and they torture you slow first
Ran in our place of worship to slaughter our grandma
Won’t go kamikaze for that, well what would you die for?
Hold up… I’ll wait, I’ll wait
Heard it from buddy who took for the fall for Watergate
The war on drugs was just a war on us
Give us all these guns, give us all this dust
Change all them laws, lock all of us up
Went from Freeway Ricky, on to BMF (free Meech)
Then hip hop came, that’s when we got rich
Cause white kids gravitated to it like all of us did
And that’s when they got slick
Invented the technology to take our shit
Diluted all of the artistry
Pardon me, somebody tell me what happened to Alton
Sterling, killed Philando right in front of the girl
And the world saw
Everybody’s reaction was, “Hell naw”
This modern day slavery, the prison publicly traded
And the jig’s up
The Constitution and Emancipation Proclamation’s just a fuckin’ piece of paper

May A Solution Be Found

I read this morning that three million bees in one South Carolina bee farm died this week due to the Zika spraying. When I read the article, I remembered the post I wrote two years ago, We Need the Bees. In it, I included the link to an article where Whole Foods showed what their produce department would look like in a world without bees.

Such a tragic situation the Zika crisis is- for humans, bees and many other creatures. May a solution be found soon.

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(Click on the galleries to enlarge the photos.)

(Click on the gallery to enlarge the photos.)

Wordless Wednesday

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Snake in your bedroom!

I enjoy looking at the work of new bloggers. Today I discovered Rajaraman and his “Raja’s Short Stories” blog. The two short stories of his that I read today were well written and really held my interest. They also contained meaningful lessons about life. I decided to reblog this one so you can all get a sense of his work. Join me in welcoming Rajaraman to the WordPress blogging community!

Raja's Short Stories

“Enough of all this. Shut up, this is not working out.” Rishi said.

“Yeah, I knew this would never work out.” said Naina.

Their marriage had become strained over the past few years. They weren’t spending enough time with each other. The sweet talks had vanished. Their relationship had become more or less like a chore. The passion was missing.

But they did fight with passion. They loved themselves more than the other person. They didn’t care for each other’s opinion or point of view.

They finally felt that they were nearing their end.

“Oh God. Why did I marry her? Please relieve me of this pain.” he thought.

View original post 2,442 more words

What’s Your Guess?

I thought it would be fun to show readers a variety of microscopic pictures I’ve been taking and see if you can identify what they are. Make a list and compare your answers with the key at the end.

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scroll down for the answers

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keep going

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Answer key

gold sari fabric
crook neck squash
blue microfiber cloth
red strawberry- the small variety
white strawberry- the small variety
Black Eyed Susan flower petal
avocado
dragon fly wing
slug

How did you do? I’d love to hear in the comments below.

I have many photos of the slug, the dragon fly and the avocado and will share them in future posts. I found the dragon fly dead on my rug but the slug was alive. I had no idea how fast slugs could move. It was pretty funny trying to get pictures of it!

Here is a photo of several of the items on this list.