Something Significant

11/11/18

When returning back to the Loj there is this abundant feeling of something significant to share. 

And so I think of what I did on the outing... 

went hiking

 bought a candle

 stopped into an outdoor gear shop...

That is what being within the forest does to me. 

This presence fills me with a striking significance 

because it is. 

It is significant- each moment we spend connected in this way.

Of course there  is the need to share!

It is the Universe calling out, wanting to be shared with all. 

Let's continue

This is an article I had written for my friends website in which she strives to connect those who are seeking to the healing powers of Mother Earth within and around.
**I will add the link soon**

The first thing that would be helpful in this connective journey that yourself, family, friends are curious about cultivating further is to feel that we belong here.
It is difficult with all the continuous talk and discussion on how humans are harming the Earth and Eachother to feel that we, as humans should be here, that we belong here.
This broken heart of feeling that we don't belong is carried with us along with each of the tragedies and traumas we have each faced and are facing.
That is why it is so important that we remend and revive our relationship with the Earth, with Mother Earth. She is our Mother and we are all her children. She cares for us, provides for us, nurtures us.
Let us accept her Love in all of her expressions of life... including ourselves.

Each of us, each being is an embodiment of the Earth herself, of the Universe.
The Earth wants you to rejoice in all her beauty!

A well-known Vietnamese Monk by the name of Thich Nhat Hanh shares a simple yet profound universal meditation that can be practiced to reconnect with our Mother...

Breathing in: you can say in your head or out loud.... The Earth is in me

Breathing out: I am in the Earth

Mother Earth wants to heal you, me and all the beings within her home.

May you embrace this unconditional love

Colleen xoxoxo

P.s. the meditation is from Thich Naht Hahn's book Love Letters to the Earth

Sun

And the sun said,
"The light in me honors and sees the light in you"

Also check out our new friend, Katelyn's horse link to her blog on the main page in the sidebar:) 

Be well

Your whole being

Listen with your whole being, not just your ears
See with your whole being,not just your eyes
Smell with your whole being, not just your nose
Taste with your whole being, not just your tounge
Touch with your whole being, not just your hands
Think and feel with your whole being, not just your mind

When we experience the world in this way the need to understand, to be right, to try, to desire or avoid dissolves and we are simply left with what is. 
It is what the rational mind can't comprehend and the only thing the intuition is

Life is a beautiful thing

Life is a beautiful thing
It makes you laugh, it makes you sing
What may arise we do not know
But we must give it a go
As mother nature knows

How to nurture and care
At times we have to beware
As we cannot comprehend
With the mind society lends

Decide to come back
To what we may lack
The intuitive thought
That cannot be forgot

You are wonderful in this moment and all the moments to come

The Journey Continues

Delicately composed 
Not on paper or rows
Rather the font magically appears through the finger tips 

Alright so it's been a very long time since last posting. May this post reach you all at a time of peace and if not that's okay... just accept and then be in peace:) easy to say, more difficult to do.

The smiles and warmth of Thailand along with the abundance of fresh markets from coconuts and mangos to string beans and mustard greens will be missed and appreciated for the nurture it gave. Especially the raw papaya salads and ka-nomes (banana sticky rice coconut and black beans steamed and wrapped in a banana leaf)!
Thailand is super friendly and easy to cycle tour around with very welcoming public spaces to camp... police stations, schools, wats (monestaries) and every giving gifts of the land and people.

Spending our last days on this side of the world a bit further south to flow with the ocean waves. The decision to come home was made in the afternoon and tickets bought that evening.
The trio was splitting and the companionship that has been cultivated was appreciated with hugs and hoots as Erin and I headed back north and Nate continued South.... Nate :) love love love

Stocking up on all the freshness we could at the markets to take on the flight Erin and I made our last market visit on the outskirts of Bangkok. Dawn approached as we road down the street aware of our increased width with the box for packing the cycle in strapped to the back. Staying at a wat (monestary) nearby once again the monks went above and beyond accomadating for a safe stay as we were able to learn and share with a young man who was studying under the abbot there for many years. 

Early morning we ventured on to meet the sun on the ride to the airport.

Since this took such a long time to update and many of you know that we are back home we can just be here:)

After putting the cycles together at JFK in New York we made a ten day trip through Hudson Valley, Catskill Region, Mohawk Valley and into our own backyard!
Meeting so many wonderful people along the way and riding along beautiful canal and rail trails.
Within NYC we made grear connections with people becoming inspired to hop on their bikes and ride them around!
Spending some time at some farms and intentional communities and finding an incredible shift in awareness in the Hudson valley area.
As we neared home to surprise the family we were fortunate to stay with an elder couple on a rainy day and drizzly night. Approaching them around 5oclock to see if there was any camping around in the small town at first there was hesitancy in which they didn't know exactly how to approach the situation of two chilled ladies on cycle riding through.
However over a little time this hesitancy wore off and we pretty quickly became a welcomed guest as if we were family. Enjoying shared stories and warm soup. As we headed out in the morning the same request was made that followed us all through out our travels...
"Come back soon!"

Arriving home we were greeted by our surprised grandparents with grandma needing several moments to even comprehend that we were back and grandpa wondering if we were still American haha.  When mom arrived we greeted her surprised eyes on the front porch:)

So now what?....
This summer we have decided to stay in update new york and currently in our own backyard discovering the plants that we can help nature grow here as well is what is already growing in the garden of the forest and fields.
We have been lucky to have met a couple with a permaculture based homestead that we have been helping and learning from one another.

It will take some time to ground down and discover our most useful place to shed more positivity within the communities that surround us and each day this expands as we meet more people and hear of more wonderful projects going on.
Just as on the cycle, of which we still continue to ride the many places we go, this slow pace is continually being cultivated and seen as a central part to living.
Many difficulties are faced daily as with each being... As we face limitations that take shape within our own minds.

May we allow for this mutual relationship of support for ourselves, one another and the earth that we are innately connected with continue to be cultivated in each moment.

Although this journey has taken us many places and taught us many things I (Colleen) am finding that the true understanding and learning is happening now in which we discover how to integrate this into our lives here and how we can extend light and love.
Reminding myself of the simplicity and beauty of life and that limitations are only mental creations.

How can we approach each day with fresh eyes and an open mind?:)

Share your thoughts, your wisdom, your being!

Erin and I were happy to have spent some time speaking with some students at Remsen as well as taking students on a foraging nature walk. If there is interest anywhere you know of who would like to have a talk and such let us know:)

Be well today

Love & Light first to ourselves and then from there it can be shared with others

Poetry with Nate part 2

At first, I thought this poem was a bit too ambitious, but when the dust settled, I thought it captured a part of the essence of our travel quite nicely.

Pissing my Days Away

Standing over the toilet
Unzipping my trousers
And playing firefighters with myself
One last time
Before retiring to my tent
I stare at my reflection
Broken through the porcelain
By my waning stream and the waxing Moonlight in the night sky
Before realizing the duality of the moment
And having a good chuckle
At the old idiom
Where viewed through a certain lens
I might be described as
'Pissing my days away'
Sleeping in temples far from home
Unemployed,
Accepting alms from monks
Yes, its supposed to be the other way around
I'm not actually poor.
But Thoreau could've left Walden
Anytime he wanted
And Kerouac and Ginsberg
Did, in fact
First meet up at Columbia
And Orwell certainly
Didn't need his dishwashing job
To pay the rent
But today,
As I recall the large bag
Of vanilla wafers and lactasoy
Given to me
Like a sweet tooth on Halloween
I can't help but think
They were all onto something
And that all I'm onto
Is right there in the toothy grin
Of the old monk
With his warm heart
And simple act of kindness.
I flush the toilet
Noticing my reflection once again
This time,
A wink and a smile greeting me
Inside the reflection
Of the clear water.

Poetry time with Mr. Nathan John- Part1

I wrote these two poems shortly before meeting up with Colleen and Erin as I passed through NamNao national park in northern Thailand, one of the few places where one can still find wild elephants.  I didn't  actually see any elephants, but I wrote these  two poems about what I did  find during my time there.

Searching for Elephants

Eventually
Groves of bamboo give way to
Mixed deciduous forest
Broadleaves, reeds,
And palms
Different shapes for all the different ways to cook shrimp
Vines grappling with emerging trees
Breaking free from the  suppression
Of the canopy
Enacting its own functional chokehold from below
And from the forest floor,
Frogs crying out from the Nam Nao,
The cool water.
And all the while,
Providing the type of
Languid, sensory experience
That only a jungle can provide
As I struggle to interpret these signals.
While instead
Finding a brief moment of communion
With the lords of this realm

Trash Receptacle

In turn, footprints and bamboo splinters
Give way to the baker's dozen,
The thatcher's worst nightmare
And the dung beetle's fantasy
A clay oven masterpiece
That looks better and bigger
Than your first time baking a loaf
Of sourdough bread
Yes, I'm talking about elephant shit.
But I take a closer look and realize
Where this brick and mortar starts to crumble
I've seen this before, perhaps on a
Tour of a recycling plant when I was a kid
Or the side of a highway,
Any highway
The end result of a functioning
Trash compactor
And then I try to imagine
What it's like to have a lactasoy carton
And a black trash bag
Pass through my intestinal tract
And then later my rectum
And what exactly it means
To produce and reproduce
Shit
Over and over again

Like a river We flow

Continuing this journey
Together we ride
Along with a new friend by our side!

Cooking on fires
And camping at Wats
Gezz Thailand! We sure like you lots!

Walking through markets
Full of things we don't know
Is this vegetarian?
I sure hope so!

One Wat, two Wat, three Wat, four
Are there more Wats than people?
I assure you theres more
*Wat means Buddhist temple/monestary

Sometimes we treat ourselves to fancy coffee and tea
We put our glasses together and yell
Yippie!

With our tea and our coffee on this brand new day!
Look out world it's time to play!

The presence we share is guided by care
With the gift of love and compassion in the air

Although moving slow we come to a stop
To take the time to nourish the crops
Learning and growing at Sahainan
We make many great friends before moving on

While losing ourselves in the Toa
We decided to stop here and now
Enjoying this brew on a road to a country all new
The border of Thailand and Loas

Crossing the border
Into Loas we go
But this time no bicycle below

Life on two feet is pretty sweet
We ditched the bikes
It's time to hitch hike

Cruising in the cuzie
Gets us feeling a little snoozy
But along comes the thrills from the windy back road hills

Oh! Here comes the sun!
This brand new day is so much fun!

Strong&Powerful Concentration

Feeling very fortunate to have spent the last week in Myanmar at Pa-Auk Forest Monestary and Meditation Center. At this center and the several other branches, Gotama Buddha's technique is taught in its totality. (Oops Gotama would not want me to say that this technique belongs to him as it belongs to all).  This is practiced here by monks, nuns and those who stay for long or short time at the center. Vipassana (which we have been mentioning so much about) is just part of the technique however, it isn't until one has developed strong and powerful concentration that they will move on to practice the actual technique to purify the mind (vipassana).  The tool used here to develop strong and powerful concentration is called Anapanassati or Annapanna... mindfullness of breathing.
*** I have added photos of a description and helpful steps to practice this... check it out:)
*** also is attached a picture of the book written by the founder of this center that is very useful when practicing this technique in its totality.
**as well as the daily schedule while staying at the center

Spending just a week here has allowed me to take a step back to work on fully developing concentration of the mind before continuing the practice of vipassana while sitting to meditate. It has been very helpful however to have started with the practice of vipassana even if I am not fully ready because it's benefits have still greatly impacted positively and the experiences thus far have allowed for that wisdom and understanding to begin to develop further. 

The meditation hall is quite new with two floors. In the center are the big rooms on each floor dedicated to meditation and the morning and evening chanting. As mosquitos are abundant at times of dawn and dusk each person can have a dome shaped mosquito net to place around them while they sit.  In the very front and center of the large pillared room sits Buddha on a lotus flower, hands places upon one another in his lap.
*important to note:
         Gotama Buddha was a person who was blessed to have self discovered a techqniue to purify one's own mind to lead to a life of love and compassion and end one's own misery. He spread this techqniue and teaching to many and that teaching still exists. This technique and teaching puts one on the path of Dhamma. To live a life of morality, with mastery of the mind and purity of the mind. To see things as they truly are. The oneness that is experienced when practicing this technique is what makes dhamma universal- not restricted to any one religion or sect.

Some playful and such thoughts while at the center:)

*'Let the mind rest in this moment'
-reminding myself of this when thoughts seem to clutter the mind really helped and during the meditation sits... give it a try:)

*when feeling sleepy during sitting: count the breath to bring back concentration then go back to just watching, splash water on the face, rub the face and ears, do walking or standing meditation.

*wow it really is like living in the time of Gotama Buddha as we are so blessed to have his teachings still so much alive and so accessible.

*As the morning wooden bell sings under the wooden stick the monastic choir or dogs harmonize to this 3:30am beat.

*Every piece of insight is so valuable/ every piece of Dhamma.

*those who seek the self realize it is the non-self they are truly seeking.

*so step by step,so based on the reality as it is. For each of us to know this we must truly see.

*You know dhamma is working when one wants to spread dhamma... when the meditation sit keeps getting interrupted by thoughts of who to share with and how to share, when one wants to pop up and yell with love and compassion spreading through to outstretched arms to the finger tips!
Ah.. what joy is felt.

*I have decided to take the long way because I am enjoying this leisurely path :)

Much love and happiness to you all

Also little update:) I sent off today to cycle into Thailand and meet back up with the wonderful being Erin in Bangkok! Excited to enjoy her energy and presence again.