Opening to Inner Wisdom

Arlene hosted a day-long yoga retreat in Woodinville on Sunday.  I enjoyed leading our day retreat, Opening to Inner Wisdom, held on the last day of January.  The New Year is a perfect time to fine-tune the way we approach and live our lives.  All activities, meditations, and discussions helped us open to inner awareness and provide access to our innate wisdom.

We enjoyed a morning of yoga, practicing (almost all of the) 60 fundamental postures, as taught by B.K.S. Iyengar.  After such a long yoga practice, we ravenous yogis enjoyed a hearty lunch prepared by Arlene. I wish I had gotten the recipe for her delicious lentil soup, but, instead, I have included recipes from two of the other dishes Arlene served:

Arlene’s Kick-Ass Salad (appropriately named!)

Ten ingredients leading you to the healthiest version of yourself!  Chop up the following and serve with Poppy Seed Dressing or dressing of your choice:

• Red Cabbage
• Green Cabbage
• Kale
• Broccoli or Brussels Sprouts
• Carrots
• Apple
• Cranberries (not chopped up)
• Blueberries (whole, fresh)
• Pumpkin Seeds (whole)
• Sunflower Seeds (whole)

Quinoa and Kale Patties

Mix the following ingredients together and saute in oiled pan:

• grated ginger
• 1 cup of quinoa, cooked in 2 cups of water and given time to cool (can be made one day ahead)
• 4 eggs
• 1/3 cup Parmesan cheese
• 3 spring onions, sliced thin
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup steamed kale, chopped
• 1 cup bread crumbs
• 1 tsp olive oil

Serve with the following optional toppings:

• lemon wedges
• salsa verde
• garlic oil
• avocado

After lunch we drove a short distance to a nearby state park in Woodinville. There we did a silent meditative walk for an hour.  A half hour into the hike, we broke our silence to hear Carol read Mary Oliver’s poem, Wild Geese and to take a few group photos!

Wild Geese by Mary Oliver

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting-
over and over announcing your place
In the family of things.

A contemplative mantra: SA TA NA MA

During our yoga session we practiced internally/silently chanting the mantra SA TA NA MA.  The mantra translates to Birth-Life-Death-Rebirth.  When we took our silent walking meditation in the forest, we noted how the cycle of SA TA NA MA is simultaneously present in the forest at all times.  SA/Birth is seen in the saplings, the younger trees so full of promise.  TA/Life is abundant in the forest.  TA/Life is seen in the various shades of green, in the lichen and the moss, and in the ferns and currant bushes decorating the undergrowth of the forest.   NA/Death is seen in the trees that have fallen, old and decayed.  NA/Death makes for a soft trail cushioned with dead pine needles and withered or dry leaves.  And before anyone has time to feel despair at the presence of death in the forest, we see MA/Rebirth in the form of a nurse-log, covered by moss, nourishing and supporting perfectly aligned robust trees.

The forest, we discover, holds the wisdom of the earth and shows us how to understand the mantra SA TA NA MA!