Ramble Om

             She got out of the shower and wiped the mirror clean. It seemed no matter how often she cleaned it, she could not fully remove the traces of his former messages, as she could not fully remove the idea of him from her mind.             She used to love the little messages he scribbled with his finger in the steamy bathroom mirror    for her  while she was in the shower:         I love you, sweetheart                                                             You’re my sexy woman                                                           ...

A fiction piece written in a 10-minute session with the prompt "Tide Pools."             They took their children to the tide pools in the hope that they would be distracted, their bare toes dipping into the icy waters as they searched for hermit crabs and sea stars.             At first, they just hung around next to their parents on the sand.             “Aren’t you coming with us?”             “Why don’t you just go with your sister and see what you find?”             “But I want you to come with us!”             She glanced over at her husband questioningly, but he only met her with a frosty stare. Any decision she would make would clearly be the wrong o...

Why is it that a half-empty glass is pessimistic When it could be the ultimate optimism For only an empty vessel may be filled again There is ecstasy in emptiness Like a satisfying shit Belly buzzing with joy That feeling of Lightness Of Possibility Sunyata Emptiness brimming with bliss Euphoric and free Unbound, untethered, unburdened Liberated and lifted Out of the darkness Dissolving in the boundlessness Of the void

Dear Ms. Lynch,                 I realize Ms. Lynch is no longer your name, but I don’t remember your new one. My mother did tell me once after running into you at the SFUSD office when I was already an adult.  It took some time for the two of you to realize how you knew each other since she was no longer Mrs. Hanni and you were no longer Ms. Lynch, but, eventually, one or both of you recalled. I suppose I could address you by your first name since I am an adult now, but, well, that’s not how I think of you. Besides, I believe that is the answer to one of the security questions for some financial institution so I shan’t repeat it here.                 Anyway, as you may have guessed, none of that is why I am writing to you. If you remember me at all, you already know that I adored you as a child. You were the first teacher I...

One morning, in my favorite vinyasa flow class, this guy set his yoga mat down next to mine. It was a crowded class, and I didn’t notice him at first, but as the class wore on, it was impossible not to. He was one of those…hmmm… how do I say this… rajasic types. For those that don’t know, there are three gunas: rajas, tamas, and sattva. Rajas is energy, but creates disharmony. Tamas is substance and creates inertia. Sattva is wisdom and consciousness, creating balance. This guy was pure rajas. For every pose, he took it to the extreme, taking the pose to the maximum edge, and never even really rebalancing in a more passive pose. Instead of breathing for a moment in a forward fold, for instance, he would try to kick up into handstand. There are plenty of people who go to a fuller expression of a pose but can do so with consciousness and intention.  However, he was huffing and puffing and trying to blow my house down with his frenetic energy. For me, yoga is my me-time. ...

For your birthday, I thought I’d make you a list of all the ways I contributed to our failed relationship, for time and distance have revealed to me how I, too, was culpable. In no particular order: 1) Every time I was attracted to another person, be it in a dream or during waking hours, I confessed this to you. I told myself I was doing it for you. I wanted to be completely honest. But really I was selfishly trying to relieve my own guilt. 2) Because I loathe them, I refused to ever let you listen to the Grateful Dead, nor were you allowed to play them on your guitar. Yes, the sound of their so-called music incites in me a violent urge to scream whilst tearing apart innocent teddy bears, but they were your favorite band. 3) On a similar note, I shouldn’t have made fun of you for grieving when Jerry Garcia died and telling you jokes such as Ben & Jerry’s new ice cream flavor being Bury Garcia . 4) When you finally went out and got a new girlfriend—a girlfriend who happened t...

While trying to figure out my intentions for the new year in yoga on Saturday, I recalled my favorite quote which, to me, encompasses the whole of a spiritual practice:  You can suffer, or you can love. You can complain, or you can surrender. You can abuse, or you can bless. It is really just that simple. — Avatar Adi Da Samraj © ASA 2017 Some, or all, of that quote is inevitably my primary intention in any given year. And yes, I suck at them all so badly, I really do need to make the same intention year after year. Most recently, my focus has been on “You can abuse, or you can bless,” because…well… I’m well aware of the evil thoughts that lurk inside my head, and I really do want to be like Paikea from the movie Whale Rider or like Van Jones—someone who is able to remain vulnerable and open, loving in the face of…hmmm…. I would call it stupidity, ignorance, and cruelty, but Paikea and Van would probably call it something a little more compassionate. Like I said, I need a l...