The Question

  The Question

 There are transitions,

  borders, and territories.

There are memories,

  inclinations, and intentions.

There are shifts,

  contexts, and foundations.

Each has a divine intention for you -

  to be with, learn from, and move on.

Can you feel all of it?

  the cosmic interplay

    delight and sorrow,

    beauty and desire,

    purpose and pulse,

    chaos and creation, 

A tapestry of threads,

  a tensegrity of wholeness,

  a life in discovery.

Beyond descriptions and definitions,

  in the language of wonder,

  there is an arising.  

Can you feel it?

What does your body love like

  the wild geese where there is a calling

  for connection to all things alive?

Can you live and the love the question?

With fearless abandon can you fly to the horizon?

             richard hammer 

                   5-11-18

(Inspired by Mary Oliver’s poem “Wild Geese”)

A Flow in All of Life

There is a flow in all of life that invites opening.

It seeks a balancing and thriving.

It knows itself as energy and presence,

as dynamic form and formless creation.

You are that flow.

Breathe. Feel. Be. Know.

~~~

Practice Qigong and open to the Qi in you and around you.

Spiraling Form

     Spiraling Form

There is beauty, grace, and joy

in this moment. 

There is the eternal, and the passing

in this moment.

There is the remembered kiss of a lover

and the desire for another in this moment.

There is the immense quiet of deep space

and the ringing of temple bells in this moment

I am being held captive by all of it

and have willingly surrendered to it.

Each sigh a release.

Each laugh a discovered joy.

Each smile a connection.

Each touch an affirmation.

The bamboo flute plays its song

in my heart.

The sun rising awakens

my inner fires.

The passing river speaks

it wisdom to my ears.

I will listen.

I will feel.

I will be.

One light on the spiraling form.

           richard hammer

               3-19-18

           Cape Coral, FL

April is National Poetry Month. In preparation consider reading or listening to a read poem each morning. Why? Because poetry invites us to consider mystery and meaning. It can be a door way in or out.... and we are always coming or going, or being present.

For poems read by their authors, go to - https://onbeing.org/project/poetry-radio-project/ -

For interviews by Kritsta Tippit, go to - https://onbeing.org/series/podcast/

Your Life Is a Poem – Krista talks to Naomi Shihab Nye (3-15-18 On Being)

Naomi's new volume is Voices in the Air: Poems for Listeners - 2018

April is National Poetry Month

April is National Poetry Month

It is invitation to open into words.

I have followed and greatly appreciated Oriah Mt Dreamer's writings for years. She shares her journey with great athenticity and vulnerability.  In other words, she is "real".

The Green Bough  -  Waking Up with Joy -  05 Apr 2018

“Some days, grace saturates my dreams and follows me into wakefulness. And I am quietly alert, smiling even as I open my eyes filled with a joy that does not deny the pain of the world or the trials and tribulations of one small human being. And I am filled with awe at having a life to live, of being an ensouled body/embodied soul.

I cannot make this happen- it is a gift that cannot be earned. And, of course, there are other mornings, mornings when I wake up worrying for the world and those I love, trying to pull away from small aches or searing pain, wanting to lodge a complaint with Anyone-In-Charge.

Remembering this makes me smile this morning as I whisper into the half-light, "Thank you." ~Oriah

http://oriahsinvitation.blogspot.com/2018/04/waking-up-with-joy.html

~~~~~ 

  Did You Notice

The bird over your shoulder singing invites you to love.

The unique gift that you give is one of beauty and presence.

The grace that you are invites in union, touch, and flow.

The letting go of overt striving invites in receiving.

Open and allow yourself to rest in the generosity of your being.

       by richard hammer  4-4-18

Poetry As A Gate

Poetry As A Gate

April 2018 Creativity Speaking

Poetry is the opportunity to explore the familiar with new eyes.

Poetry is the opening of consciousness for experiencing the gift

of life more deeply.

Poetry is the sampling and savoring of language, emotions, and

the many landscapes of being.

Your writing of poetry invites in the muse who has been assigned

to you to create with language.

There are musical muses, and other artistic muses.

Each needs to be invited in.  Some need to sit by you in silence,

others in nature, or perhaps while running down the road.

You will know when the muse taps you on the shoulder and compels

you to place words to page.  Your muse will remind you to carry pen

and paper at all times to record the imperatives of your insights.

Pause now.  Listen.  And then write.

Pour out what is coming to make space

for receiving what is to come next.

Let it be a wild, fierce flow or a gentle, surprise in what appears.

There will be a beat, pulse, rhythm in your unique style.

Accept what arises.

The urge to write will rise.

Resist it not. Let it come.

Let it be an invocation, an utterance, a celebration, a declaration,

a cleansing, an offering.  Let it come.

richard hammer

3-31-18

What does it mean to you to be a yoga teacher?

As I went through older files this week I came upon a response I submitted to a website that publishes current thinking and questions about yoga - It's All YOga Baby.  Here is what I found  --

What does it mean to you to be a yoga teacher?

At the beginning of April 2014 on the “its all yoga baby” web site (iayb) there was a request by the site manager for readers, meaning yoga teachers, to respond to the question of “what does it mean to you to be a yoga teacher”.

Here was my posted response:

Being a yoga teacher means to dwell in G.R.A.C.E.

G - Gratitude for what has been given me that I might serve others.

R - Real and raw, authentic being from the marrow of one's bone.

A - Awareness of what is arising, what is here, what is dissolving.

C - Centeredness and compassion.

E - Energy, the cultivation of which is aligned movement in all the Koshas (bodies).

- it is showing up as best you can, again, and again, ….....

~~~

Apparently the manger liked it enough to send me a prize – a copy of

Teaching Yoga: Exploring the Teacher-Student Relationship - by Donna Farhi.

~~~

May we all bloom and blossom into the fullness of our expression as

a teacher and student of yoga, and lover of life.

May we remember that our students are our teachers.

May we honor all paths and traditions.

May our dharma path be made ever clear

as we partner with love and joy

to shine our light more brightly

to bless all beings.

Courage and Clarity

I have been taking an online course through the Shift Network titled The Enneagram of the Virtues with Russ Hudson. We are in week 9 and the subject is Type 6 of the 9 types, which is head centered (5, 6, and 7s). Type 6 is seen as Questioners. 

I have been posting on their fb group for this series one of my poems for the type under discussion.  Here is the one for today  -

Courage and Clarity

There is the courage to go in

to see what is really there,

both light and dark.

And there is the courage to go out,

to expand, open, receive the unknown.

There is the courage to hold onto

when so many things scream for release,

and the courage to let go,

to live beyond the old, familiar.

The courage to stay.

The courage to leave.

The courage to speak up.

The courage to remain silent.

The courage to release the riddle

in the making or the solving of it.

It takes courage to ask for help.

It takes courage to see a better way

for your one amazing life.

Take this moment to say yes

to the you that is showing up

to ask yourself this question -

What is the next step forward for

what my heart is asking for?

Clarity comes with asking

the right questions.

What is the right question to be

asked in the moment?

What is the version of you,

2.0 or perhaps 8.0, that is

seeking voice or to be seen?

richard hammer

   3-6-18