Eagles and Horses

tedderbo — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 05:48:26 +0000

I love you.
You can’t be a stranger.
We’ve dived into a blue and wide
There is no landing
Evolving sky is the sun
Ananda is in my lap

- Sweet Bhavani Crisp (Carrboro, NC)

Teaching Hiatus after February

tedderbo — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 02:16:59 +0000

NAMaste

This is a bittersweet newsletter I write to you, as I have decided to go on an indefinite teaching hiatus. All of my classes will be over come March 1. I’m sorry that this is sudden for some of my regulars. –this is what happens when you start reading May Sarton–

As many of you know, slowing down and healing are foundational to my teachings. It’s foundational to my life as well (or else I wouldn’t be teaching it). In honoring that, it is time for me to be quieter and more internal. I very much want to go much deeper into my yoga and chanting practice without thinking of teaching right away what I learn. My home practice is priceless to me. It, my dog, and a long walk are the only things I trust to keep me level. I hope you are developing your home practice as well. Eventually I may want to share my practice again.

I am sad about leaving Deep Roots Yoga which is my heart-child. It really is one of my most precious and creative ventures. I’ve never experienced anything like it. And I know from many of you, who “got it”, you’d never experienced something like it either. I give all the credit to my teachers (this includes my mother/father and family). I hope to practice that teaching method again one day. And, I am considering writing a book or short book someday about Deep Roots Yoga and what makes it so effective. I do wish more people had experienced it, as I think there is a lot of healing potential with it. But, hell, even just a smile can heal.

I am happy to share with each of you individually the insights and guidance I have received that have made this move feel right on. Stay tuned to this email list as I will probably do some Back Porch Yoga sessions this summer and I will continue offering some workshops. Many of you I consider personal friends–please stay in touch. I care about you and hope you are spending more and more time on the sunny side.

Sunday February 26th will be the last Deep Roots Yoga session at Open Heart. It is also my birthday and my favorite day of the year. In gratitude for you and your sweet selves, I am offering this class for FREE. I hope you can make it and bring a friend to be a part of this surely magical last session (for now).

I will do one more week of FREE Yin Yoga at Balanced Movement Studio Thursday at 5:15
(304 W Weaver St, Carrboro, NC) – Please come enjoy this class.

My classes at Carrboro Yoga Co. end Tuesday the 28th.

Today is a day celebrating love.
Today is my dog’s birthday.
I love my dog like nothing else in this universe.
~Blake

tedderbo — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 04:19:45 +0000

Waiting,
not waiting.

tedderbo — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 02:55:12 +0000

What the hell
is a president?

tedderbo — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 03:24:58 +0000

i don’t think i’ll bring up
John Astin’s music
to the guys i play ball with

From Broken Open – How Difficult Times Can Help Us Grow, by Elizabeth Lesser

tedderbo — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 16:14:34 +0000

Life sends all sorts of foxes to raid the hen house and steal the eggs. I try to look at the problems that come my way as opportunities to give up my illusions about myself and life here on planet Earth. I try to welcome the fox into the henhouse. I try to surrender the ego willingly. Usually I hold on to them and fight off the fox for a while. Sometimes my problems have to clonk me on the head until I see the stars of truth.

I am not suggesting that everything bad that happens to us is sent directly by a knowing hand – cooked up specially for our personal development. Nor do I mean that by using the stuff of life as grist for the mill you will learn what you need to move on into a problem-free world. And I also don’t recommend courting drama and disaster so you can be broken open to the truth. A catastrophe is not a sign that God has singled you out for greatness.

What I do mean is that you can use anything–everything–as a wake-up call; you can find a treasure trove of information about yourself and the world in the big trials and the little annoyances of daily life. If you turn around and face yourself in times of loss and pain you will be given the key to a more truthful–and therefore a more joyful–life.

Adversity is a natural part of being human. It is the height of arrogance to prescribe a moral code or health regime or spiritual practice as an amulet to keep things from falling apart. Things do fall apart. It is in their nature to do so. When we try to protect ourselves from the inevitability of change, we are not listening to the soul. We are listening to our fear of life and death, our lack of faith, our smaller ego’s will to prevail. To listen to the soul is to stop fighting with life–to stop fighting when things fall apart; when they don’t go our way, when we get sick, when we are betrayed or mistreated or misunderstood. To listen to the soul is to slow down, to feel deeply, to see ourselves clearly, to surrender to discomfort and uncertainty, and to wait.

It is in times of brokenness that the soul sings its most wise and eternal song. I cannot hum you a tune or tell you the lyrics; each persons soul has it’s own cadence. You will recognize its music, though, by the way you feel when you are listening: awake, calm, and suddenly relieved of the burden of control. You will take a big breath, you’ll sigh and say to yourself, “It’s okay. Everything’s okay.” You’ll unfold your arms and lean back and say to the soul, “Just sing me your song. Teach me the words. Tell me what you know.”

And sometimes in those moments of surrender, you will get to see … how much you get from staying stuck in the way you see yourself and other people; how much you have invested in making someone else wrong so you don’t have to accept your own culpability; how you idolize others so you don’t have to claim your own power, take a stand, be your own noble and radiant self. …You may know something true about yourself, but you protect the henhouse nonetheless. It’s when you let the fox steal the eggs that you’re left with the truth of who you really are. And who you really are is so much more than those imaginary eggs.

tedderbo — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 16:05:53 +0000

“The grave recieves you with love. Surrender yourself to the Earth. Return what was loaned to you. Give up your pleasure, your pain, your friends, your lovers, your life, your past, what you desire. You will know nothingness, it is the only reality. Don’t be afraid, it’s so easy to give. You’re not alone, you have a grave. It was your first mother. The grave is the door to your rebirth. Now you will surrender the faithful animal you once called your body. Don’t try to keep it, remember, it was a loan. Surrended your legs, your sex, your hair, your brain, your all. You no longer want to possess, possession is the ultimate pain. The earth covers your body, she came to cover you with love, because she is your true flesh. Now you are an open heart, open to receive your true essence your ultimate perfection. Your new body, which is the Universe, the work of God. You will be born again, you will be real. you will be your own father, your own mother, your own child, your own perfection. Open your eyes, you are the earth, you are the green, you are the blue, you are the Aleph, you are the essence. Look at the flower, look at the flower, for the first time look at the flowers.”

Alejandro Jodorowsky from “The Holy Mountain”

tedderbo — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 14:46:28 +0000

will i wake in a few hours
in the bright, clean morning
to find you gone
into your own head

tedderbo — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 06:49:36 +0000

i think I told you before
using up all the hot water
makes for a hating

tedderbo — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 21:31:29 +0000

“Whatever you want to call it, positive thinking, re-framing, self-encouragement, ra-ra-rah, this is where you need to step up to the plate, look at your fear head on and confront it with your truth. The truth being, that you manage to get through everyday whether with grace or grit; that fear will not kill you; that your God, or your friends, or your grandma in heaven will have your back; that you have risen above before, and that you will rise above again; that, it’s only life after all.”

- Danielle LaPorte from “your friend, anxiety”