It really works!! Really. Really. A little over a year ago I decided to challenge myself and do 365 days of Sadhana, that is, to get up before the coming of the light (yogis refer to it as the Amrit Vela-time of great nectar), practice some yoga and meditate, by chanting the mantras for the Aquarian Age (total 62 min).

I’ll begin with the failures or, more gently, my stumbles. I mostly succeeded in keeping the promise I made to myself in that I did it every day but one, Valentine’s Day. In a benevolent act of self love during the most inhospitable time of the year, I chose to skip my sadhana on the day of love.  Towards the end of my challenge, in the middle of the longest days of the year, I did not rise before the sun on numerous occasions. She just couldn’t coax me out from under the covers, even with her sweet summer, morning breezes, much before 6am.

Okay here are my victories. It has been a very remarkable year for me. I began my journey in the expansive, endless-sky, desert town of Espanola, New Mexico, long-time home of my spiritual teacher, Yogi Bhajan. I took my meditation journey home to Massachusetts, and to my ever expanding joy, realized I was able to sleep a little later each day as autumn began shortening our days here in New England.

For two chilly November days, I woke in the whee hours and did Sadhana with my inspiring step son in upstate New York at the ‘Castle,’ of a famous actor who hired him to do some detailed wood-work.  Back at home during the darkest winter months, I chanted with other yogis in Millis and Franklin and was lucky enough to be part of introducing 18 amazing teacher trainees to the group sadhana experience.

Early spring brought me to Pura Vida, the pure life, of Costa Rica where I rose and stepped out on a balcony overlooking the Pacific Ocean and the pulsing rain forest every morning for seven days.  I timed it so that as I began chanting the sun’s rays would graze the tops of the trees and the world would open up before me like the colorful flowers punctuating the landscape. Pure Bliss, just like waking up with God at your side!

June found me at a Reserve and the rambling Martha’s Vineyard family home of dear friends and fellow teachers, where we lead a weekend workshop.  We woke to hundreds of swans landing in the brackish waters of Great Pond. The Fourth of July holiday brought me together with very dear friends on the Island of Chincoteague, off the coast of Virginia. I find meditating on islands  yummy– with the ocean surrounding the land and all those wonderful negative ions clearing out those unwanted thoughts.

Château de Chenonceau and Me

My dreams came true at the end of July, when I woke up in Paris and still did my Sadhana, sneaking peaks at photos from the prior day’s travels. In August I was pinching myself as I opened my eyes in various towns along the Loire Valley in France.  I love France! I won’t even begin to get into what I love about France here because this post is getting too long as it is.  Let’s just say I was very, very happy there.

The summation: 365 days of Sadhana made me stronger, more resilient energetically, healthier and happier.  I was less tired and less crabby. I ate better and had a better outlook. We even made more money for part of the year.

It is a panacea. Honestly, I believe it can cure anyone of just about anything.  Go figure.  I had no idea the power of that regular a practice.  I found the closer I woke to 4 am, the better my day was as a result. The days I woke up later and felt less enthusiastic about my practice were not so good.  I found I could anticipate certain challenges and in a sense work through them during the meditation, clearing my emotional system for the day.

I want to thank my husband, Guruatma, for his unwavering daily support, participation and leadership.  (He is leading Sadhana several times per week at our yoga studio, Franklin Yoga & Wellness.)

Try it, you’ll like it.  The only caveat is that it takes about three weeks 21 days or so to get over the super tired feeling.

It’s been a long time since I’ve posted anything here and I feel guilty of neglect. Blog neglect. Perhaps it was all the rain in April, or the new green growth, or some other shinny object pulling my attention. Anyway, I’m back.

It’s the surprising capacity of the human heart which continually bouys my faith in humanity.  Just when I think the world is a cold and isolating place, I read a story or hear a song in which someone has gone against the current cold and calculating flow of life on this earth, and opened their heart, and sometimes their wallets, to another in need.  These moments are joined together like a mala and just like a prayer or a chanted mantra, bring me from one challenging event to the next.

The movie The Blind Side, which I’ve seen twice, is one of those movies in which a family opened their hearts and home to a young boy in need of both.  The results are successful for all and moved me to tears a number of times. Yes, I am an easy mark, I guess.

My wish is that these heart experiences were more frequent and more ubiquitous.  Honestly, I think I’ve gone days, weeks and even months and not been moved by anything or anyone.  Some of the positive thinkers or new agers would say it has nothing to do with my outer world and everything to do with my inner world.  They are probably right. However, my inner world becomes uplifted, held, soothed and made whole again when evidence that an open human heart has crossed my path.

Lifehouse’s song Everything has lifted me out of the doldrums more than a few times.  Just the words “how can I stand with you and not be moved by you…” are incredible in their devotion and reverence for another-even if it was a fleeting or short lived moment.  These lovers are bound to disappoint one another as we all do.

So, perhaps it is the job of each and everyone of us to contribute just one of these uplifting moments which will join with others and create a path of stepping stones across life’s turbulent ocean.

My sadhanas have been pitiful since my return from Costa Rica.  I wake just minutes before sunrise, sit up in bed, squeeze in a few stretches and begin chanting only to check email on my ipod when I hear the seductive ‘you’ve got mail’ bleep.

Though something tells me that I am still benefiting by this slipshod sadhana practice.  I’ve been feeling generally safe these days. Quite a feat for me as I typically felt threatened or fearful on some level even in the safety of my own home.  Even my lazy sadhana is working behind the scenes for me in places and ways I have yet to notice.

This is generally true with life and especially true with my husband who has a long, full beard and mustache.  While driving on the Mass Turnpike into Boston to teach a yoga class a man pulled up beside my husband, glared at him and then spit out his window.  My husband happened to have on his big white turban.  The man had assumed my husband was a Muslim and reacted with vehemence.  Not two days went by when my dear husband sat in the parking lot of a nearby gas station and a man, after climbing off his shiny crimson Harley, gave my husband a smile and the ‘up-nod.’ As if to say, “ts’up brother.” This particular day my husband wore his graying hair down in a pony tail which hung out of the back of a baseball cap.  My husband, who thinks he’s more of a Ford Mustang guy, but actually drives a Toyota Prius, never straddled a motorcycle in his life.

Both men assumed things about my husband and were wrong.  I find this very true of life.  How many times have you looked at someone with jealousy or pity and later on found that your assumptions were incorrect?

Appearances truly can be deceiving and I am thankful that they are.  It keeps me on my toes, reminding me not to judge others.

Birds are chirping. The sea is crashing low tide onto volcanic rocks so jagged you could cut your bare feet.  Sadhana mantras reverberate in my head from my i-pod’s earbuds. I think they are parrots – the loud squawking birds.  I search among the huge leaves for hummingbirds.  My husband sits with his own set of earbuds listening and chanting sometimes too loud and I have to sush him because the boys are still sleeping.  There they are the emerald throated swift beauties.  These humingbirds flit from the bird of paradise flower to the heliconia probing for their sweet nectar. The same three boats remain anchored in the bay which stretches below.  Tiny sugar ants crawl in zigzag fashion along the imitation limestone tile.

I should be focused internally but honestly, how could anyone expect me to close my eyes to this glorious plantropolis?

The cicadas are warming up for a long day of wing trilling. I wonder if they rest, take turns, have some sort of schedule because once they begin their ear piercing concert they only break when it rains.  I can see them now (in my mind) – the cicada maestro gives the signal. They play for a moment, then rest as the sun has not yet blasted over the mountain.  A dog barks and a workman waves at me from the under-construction villa next door.

The butterflies are the quiet ones. Oops, that’s right I’m supposed to be meditating…

At the Olympics in China we saw the power of a group working as one cohesive unit.  In Vancouver we saw the power of one individual soaring through the air over a ‘moving prairie’.  The effect was stunning and reinforces my belief that ‘one’ can make a difference.

“The power of one man or one woman doing the right thing for the right reason, and at the right time, is the greatest influence in our society.”
—Jack Kemp

When one person steps into the unknown with faith to discover his or her authentic self something magical happens.  A luminous life force begins to pulse within that person.  We recognize them by the goosebumps and feelings of inspiration which are invoked within our own hearts.

Each one of us has this potential, this seed for greatness.  They say ‘many are called, but few answer.’  Sadly, this is too true.  When was the last time you listened to the inner promptings of action within your gut?  It is never too late.

Many feel that taking these steps is selfish or indulgent.  I say to you, if there is a aspect of you which will serve to elevate you and inspire others, how can it be selfish to take those steps?  By not taking them you deny all of us the benefit of your radiance.

For 121 days I have risen before the sun to practice yoga and meditation.  My cat, Big-Boy, is now bought into my daily sadhana.  If I am not awake by 5:30am he meows or scratches the headboard to wake me up; and, when I’m up and doing my yoga he sits near my yoga mat and waits for me. Perhaps I did not respond to his gentle wake-up behaviors this morning because at 5:34 he woke me by rustling and scratching at a Marshalls shopping bag.  In it, a new sweater for me and work out pants for my son.  It was my mistake to leave it on the floor in the foyer because when ever we leave crinkly bags lying around this 20 pound cat thinks it’s his liter box.  Yes, he peed on my brand new sweater. I will only make that mistake once.

As 2009 winds down and the days become shorter, darker and colder, here in the northeast USA, I find myself wanting to slow down and curl up anywhere the sun graces.  I feel squeezed, compressed and lazy.  It takes double the energy and heroic mental fortitude to get me out of the house.  I should know better.  I grew up in New Hampshire and learned that those winters when I felt the best were the ones where I got out in the weather nearly every day.

That is the secret – Allowing the cold to hit my flesh and taking great gulps of frozen air enables my body to adjust and thrive in the coldest season.  My blood thickens to protect me, my internal body chemistry makes the shifts so that I can survive.  Our bodies have been doing this for eons.  When I follow this simple perscription I feel more optimistic and energized and less inclined to turn the thermostat up.

As always, the answer lies in dissolving my resistance.  By letting down my guard and allowing in the cold.  Welcoming it with open arms.  I know the secret.  The question is, will I act on it?  Will I bundle up, slide a pair of gloves over cold fingers and tie up my Reeboks over reluctant feet?  Will I grumble and complain before opening the door? You bet. However, the reward will be a clear head, invigorated muscles. I will feel infinitely better.

Will I do it? Get out in the cold today? Will you?