DANCING ON

My eel-like essence
slithers along the soul's muddy waters
unearthing the shadowy sludge
harboring shelter there.

My inner and outer Crone
is now able to honour self-knowledge,
the soft spiraling movements
and open heart
required on the journey.

Snake Grandmother,
less slimy than
close to the earth,
coiled ... now unfurled,
willing to experience
life on her own terms.

Openhearted to presence and possibilities, I yearn for nothing and pray for more......

The passions, promises
and puposefulness
of life ... already met,

the unexpected now remains ....
my newest dance partner!

And so, slithering
and spiraling my
ancient hips
toward the dance floor,
I carry my wisdom
in the curve of
the Goddess,
caressing the
essance of SHE
in the presence of ME.

Dr Seena Russell Axel, Ph.D
Yogini Conference .. Kripalu July 2007

LEAVE IT

Autumn...Fall...fall away, shed your skin..
Shed your tears. Prepare to slumber, rest in Winter
Then sprout....blossom....rebirth into Spring
Grow into Grace of Being.
We all spring from the Tree of Life
The Branch of Sisterhood.
Our parents began our lives in various moods,
Under various circumstances.
The constant is the journey of their seeds,
That form the Truth and certainty of our life,

So we grow into the Human Tree of Existence.
We can trace our lineage through the branches
Of our family trees in cycle after cycle.

It's Autumn, also known as Fall.
I see a leaf fall, then more leaves.
I think..Leave it behind and take the opportunity
To drop a few leaves from my Water-Tree ...Me

Vicki - 9-18-07
Harbin Women's Retreat

MUSINGS

The acorns are
shaped like bullets,
big and shiny
brown

These bullets grow
trees!

----------------------

I lay fresh with
the heat of the springs
rising from my body.

I send my root down
deep to the center of
the Earth

There is a light there
the light of the mother,
guiding my way.

She held me
in the dappled sunlight.

Warn water a
soft embrace.

I am a sea fan,
waving

I am a dolphin,
spinning

I am a mermaid
waiting for my lover

My lover, the breath

Sweet deicious breath.

Nance - 2007
Harbin Women's Retreat

SEAWEED

Seaweed-
    The trees of the sea

Unstructured,
    Yet with form

Flowing with the
    Beautiful flow of current

Like its landlocked cousins, the currents
    Let the seaweed flow and sing
    Its silent song.

                Today I experienced
            The silent song of
                the seaweed.

Today I danced a beautiful waterdance

    Today I became one with the
        flow of Life's fluidity.

    Today I let go.

        In letting go,
            I danced the waterdance
                And we were beautiful.

Kari Romeo - September 2007
Harbin Women's Retreat

Sound and silence
Sunshine, shadow, circle
Closing, opening
Breaths of spirits
    offering names
Passing on healing
Singing bowls
      placed on the bowels
              of sisters
Song, smiles, sighs
Tears spilling over
Stories, sharings, self-reflection
Sound and silence

-Robbie Lapp, 2007
Harbin Women's Retreat

Woman of Wisdom

Five short days ago...
Five short days ago...
Swirling snowlaced winds of cold
   guided and sometimes interferred.
Journeying on mountain roads,
   Single-laned and dimly lit...
   leading me here...
   leading me here...

Disappointed in Karen.
Disconcerted at core.
Heart protected, back up,
   pelvis pushing forward, buttocks tight,
   not to mention ever relating
   to having a perineum,
   much less knowing how to use it
     wisely... well.

The bitter cold and biting winds
   of that first night...
another expression of
   Goddess wings enfolding,
albeit unpleasant.
Deep, dark foundation, the
  ongoing journey.
Rehabilitating Self: A Return To Soul.

Five short days ago...
Five short days ago...
An archeological dig finding
  cold, steely, sharp remnants
  of the many, many invasions
  of my wise woman center.
Slicing ...in the name of
  "modern medicine."

Wounded ...yes. Mortally ...not yet.
  The journey continued.
Bathed in the mikvah
  of sacred ritual.
Soul sister ground at my back.
Crone sister urging me forward.
I sat and I forward bent.
And I felt ...and I remembered...
  And I released.
And I wept ...and I wept ...and I wept

Eyes clearer, heart opened,
  back broadened, breathing
  into my kidneys,
leading movement and
  loving affection with
  my perineum.

I am birthed anew ...again.
  Anointed with the oil of Jasmine.
I surrender the pain of invasion trauma.
I release my yoni's protective holding,
  offering deep gratitude for
 her safe retreat
I accept the past and
slither my snake consciously
  into the slimy present.
Sun dims in the early morning mists,
  caressing the soft shoulder
  of the gently winding  
  curves and valleys of
  these sacred Berkshire mountains.

Crows making nests, buds on trees,
 greens, blues, yellows, reds, peeking through.
Slow, sexy soul sounds...
Barry White's "Can't Get Enough of You Babe"
  pulsing dreamily
  through car speakers...
  even the school buses picking up
  the next generation speaks of
  new beginnings.

Spring is here. I am reborn.
Breath deeply her musky fragrances.
Trust fully her intuitional senses.
Knowing this makes me feel WISE.
Feeling this makes me feel WOMAN.

Yoga - pathway through body.
  Deep curves and steep caverns,
  an arduous journey, unfamiliar
  and dark ...guided by those
  brave Goddesses who dared
  to enter first ...and illuminate
  the passage with the brilliance
   of their light.
Angela...Kayla...Elizabeth...
  wise women all, in circles
  who give to others...
  the gift of Self ...the strength of Soul...
  the substance of support.
I honor you ...in loving me, birthed anew...
  again ...a woman of wisdom...
  leading me here...
  five short days ago!

-Dr Seena Russell Axel, Ph.D, March 2004

Surya Namaskar
Lifting my wings, being given breath,
        I salute the sun.

Returning that gift, I bow
       To salute the earth.

Hovering now, over its' firmness
        I feel it, belly to belly.

Swooping, first upward, then backward,
Lifting playfully, facing the earth,.again,
        I rejoice.

The patterns of evolution embedded in my cells
Move me in and out of poses,
Riding on my breath.

-Janet Hockfeld, 2004

Undoing

As I feel the earth beneath my feet,
Streams of life pour through me.
Rooting downward, releasing upward,
Prana seeks out tensions
Held in corners of my body-memory.
My brain-memory may not know
      They are there

      Those places

                          Now

                                    Expanding.

-Janet Hockfeld, 2004

Life, Volunteering

It breathes me!

Through my back
The breath seems to come.

Into the bowl of my pelvis,
Spilling forth along my spine,

Through my body and back again
To the source.

The inspiration lifts my parts,
Separates my bones.
Instilling life into every cell.

The expiration releases,
Also separating my bones
With that soft force upon which it rides.

The transition between them
Is full,
Round,
Easy.

I receive,
Pause in fullness momentarily,
Then give back.
I pause once again,
In the fullness
Of emptiness.

-Janet Hockfeld, 2004

Savasana

I feel

My spine

Like

A snake

Along the floor.

It has softened.

I have let it soften.

My breath

Has been my friend.

Perhaps our acquaintance

Will grow and grow

Until

We stop noticing

The difference between us.

We are already one.
(Sighl)

-Janet Hockfeld, 2004       

Sarvangasana

Unfolding upward,

Introspection and stillness
Allow me to find that ever present current.

I ride with it.

Up, up, up.

As I empty, I am filled
With the lightness
To which I have surrendered.

-Janet Hockfeld, 2004

Plant the Feet

Plant the feet,
Allow the soles to become one with the earth.

Growing roots deeply downward
Releases energy upward,
Awakening sleeping cells
At the core of ones' being,
Radiating life to the surface.

-Janet Hockfeld, 2004

Names of Poses

The images,
Suggested by sages,
Came
From the inside,
Out.

That natural flow
Will
One day
Take over
In me.

It's trying now.
I can feel it,
I'll let it.

-Janet Hockfeld, 2004      

Introspection

The effort,

Concentration.

Becoming alert,

Watching,

Softening,

Allowing,

Directing only remotely

By breathing.

-Janet Hockfeld, 2004

The Breath, a Wave

The breath, a wave.
Fills me.
Timed by that wisdom
Which also empties me.
Which also returns the wave to the ocean.

The breath,
That wisdom,
Like a wave,
Moves my spine
As I pose
And wait for it to come.

-Janet Hockfeld, 2004

'Allowing'

Navigating the tender moment of now...
          This breath is enough.
          This breath...
     Giving rise to this increment of movement;
     The owning and releasing of each grain of sand.
               Again and again
                    Letting go
     of needing any of it to be different.
               Slowing down
               Slowing down
                         Slowing down some more

Allowing all of it to be held with breath.
          Resting in Deep Acceptance
                    ~in deep trust~
                    ~in deep unknowing~
     Resting in the undercurrents
               of being delightfully tickled
          by the equinimity that supports us all
                             ALL.
Enlightenment defined
As an intimacy with all things

-Nancy Minges, Harbin, 2003

'Allowing'

Navigating the tender moment of now...
          This breath is enough.
          This breath...
     Giving rise to this increment of movement;
     The owning and releasing of each grain of sand.
               Again and again
                    Letting go
     of needing any of it to be different.
               Slowing down
               Slowing down
                         Slowing down some more

Allowing all of it to be held with breath.
          Resting in Deep Acceptance
                    ~in deep trust~
                    ~in deep unknowing~
     Resting in the undercurrents
               of being delightfully tickled
          by the equinimity that supports us all
                             ALL.
Enlightenment defined
As an intimacy with all things

-Nancy Minges, Harbin, 2003

The gods come in Jaguars of many colors

I touched something nameless
inside myself in mexico
satisfied some lifelong goal
found what I'd been looking for...
cenote' mind
crystal clear
the lone growl of a red jaguar
a moving wave of lavender coral.
the florescent blue flash on the fins of a black fish
swirling around a reef
A barracuda waiting till hunger
calls out a strike at tiny fish the color of water
turquoise water that won't wash off.
just being myself,
and the calmness that resting there brings.
the softness of grass in tullum
sent my soul
out the crown of my head
so I,
closed two eyes
and opened another
as light poured in.

-Walter Brown, Chapel Hill, 2003
wagataga@ hotmail.com

The cloud -
Fishbone ribs -
Floats across the arched
Window space
Before it's gone
It's dragon's teeth

Memory of an old poster
Follows in its wake
The "Surfin' Swami"
In tree pose, on a board:
"You can't stop the waves,
But you can learn to surf."

Here, in heartland Ohio
Thousands of miles from
Literal ocean
This is surfing class
A turning in the belly
Crests in the mind
And something without words
Hangs in space
Like water tumbling roundly
Toward shore

-Yellow Springs, 1998