Blog

Last August I wrote that I'd get to retreats once family logistics settled down. Both kids head back to college this week, and it turns out I don't want to go anywhere. So I'm hosting two things at Lake Fellowship in Excelsior: a free Saturday morning class on August 22, and a day-long retreat with a potluck on September 12. Twelve people each.

Some days you don't feel like practicing. You show up, do the thing, and not much happens. Patañjali opens his chapter on practice with three aspects of your practice to consider when that happens, and he puts them ahead of the eight limbs, the part everyone knows.

Minnesota summers fill up fast, and so does the list of things a person ought to care about. Patañjali offers two words instead: steady practice, and letting go of how it turns out. One gives you something to do, and the other keeps it from becoming one more thing to win at.

The first time I heard a Kripalu teacher say BRFWA, I thought it sounded like a sneeze. Breathe, Relax, Feel, Watch, Allow is a slightly awkward name for a useful skill, good for getting centered and negotiating sticky conversations. These five letters have helped me to ride the waves of life instead of checking out.

Tomorrow, before you reach for the phone, take thirty seconds to notice the body and the mind. Then decide what to do next. "Taking stock" is a skill of looking inward to guide what you do next.

Years ago I made a video of my daughter's first days with iMovie. But a software update made it so I could no longer open the project. My work: gone. That's how I found free software. Only later did I realize what I had found: not just better tools, but tools that were enough. What might the yamas and niyamas have to do with the software on your laptop?

Before savasana, I often mention that we've done meditation, breathing, postures, and now it's time for relaxation. That's a reference to four of yoga's eight limbs. A therapist teaches you concentration and calls it mindfulness. A sleep app teaches you sense-withdrawal and calls it NSDR. But yoga has eight limbs that we practice together.

Stuck waiting for the Duluth Aerial Lift Bridge to rise, my first thought was "Dang, now we have to wait." The man who pulled up beside me jumped out with his camera, thrilled. Same bridge, two different experiences. Seeing the pure joy on his face reminded me of beginner's mind, the trees I don't own, and the opinions I'd be better off setting down.

A Drupal project migration from Lando to DDEV replaced complex shell scripts with Drainpipe tasks, creating a more standardized, documented, and maintainable developer workflow.

Cleaning the basement, I found an old Boy Scout photo with a Wind Chill Thriller badge. It's a badge you get for camping in -50° wind chills, and I earned it three times. It got me thinking about how those brutal winter trips resemble monastic life: sangha, simplicity, and the only four things a monastic needs.