November Update - Nature as Guru - Appreciation!
Ah! November, a beautiful and sometimes brutal month…..
As the light diminishes more and we drop into the true dark time of year, heralding Samhain and Halloween celebrations, we are drawn inwards. The world buzzes manically around us and as much as we wish and need in some ways, to stay engaged there is this still, calm voice calling us inwards. I am hoping some of you will listen to that yearning and join me in retreat next weekend, in an online Weekend Workshop “Nature as Guru” - What better time to bring the poetry and imagery of the natural world into our deep quiet practice as the leaves change colors, the chill is in the air and some of us are nestling into the power of reflection and restoration before the big family and social demands at the end of the year arise. Sign up by 11/3 if you want this opportunity to listen to the teachers all around us, in our wilder magical environments, guide us into our own simpler, more natural peaceful beings.
Online Yoga moves into a month of Appreciation - See free Metta meditation below.
Classes on Tuesday/Wednesday/Saturday ams and a restorative practice on 11/14. Recordings available to auto-subscribers.
FREE Online Thanksgiving Class - 11/27 9-10am - Our annual joyful gathering open to Everyone! Essential to pre-register for the special zoom link.
12/21, 12-4pm Celebrating Winter Solstice - In Person in Boonville, CA
2026
4/8 -12 Outdoor Meditation and Yoga Retreatat Pomo Tierra with Kirsten Rudestam & MP
5/1 - 8 Presence Retreat - The Language of Animacy - Gray Bear - Our Yoga Paradise in TN!
7/2-7 Summer Retreat at Albion CA - 4 spaces left as of 10/17/25!
One 2 Ones - Online Private sessions begin again! Do you need some nudging in your practice/teaching? Are you wanting more specific input regarding an issue that’s arising in your body, or simply to have more attention than is usual in a regular class. Registration limited so sign up soon. An auspicious time to go deeper in yoga!
More Info at www.maryyoga.com
A Cup of Metta!
FREE Metta as Expresso Meditation 27mins*
This month in online yoga we are exploring the theme of appreciation, friendliness, loving kindness - all the many facets of Metta.
Poem referred to in this meditation is Billy Collin’s Morning.
The Great Gen Z Revolt!
No, this image is not part of my Halloween getup! but the symbol gathering Gen Z’ers all over the world to protest and in some cases remove corrupt governments. Most articles in main stream media are not so complimentary to the Gen Z populations, who are often discussed from the perspective of drifting right/opting out, spending inordinate time in the gym or conspiracy wellness circles, and sadly, dealing with post covid trauma that challenged their formative years in education and employment. This short audio from the Guardian and an even shorter one from NPR are inspirational. So appreciated at this time, and revealing once again that the main stream media is not telling us about very important stories that are international and not in the regular press.
A Metta Story or 2
So over the years, I have heard some great encouragements from meditation teachers as to the power of Metta, Maitri, often translated as unconditional love, friendliness and sometimes “loving kindness”. Bringing this quality into the practice as a subterranean thread or as a conscious more specific mantra, opens possibilities for sure. And yet it is very easy to forget! Especially at times when one needs that warmth and tenderness so deeply.
A few decades ago, a wonderful teacher - Marie Manschatz, described her resistance to this practice. She was an experienced meditator but had shied away from formal metta practices, considering them as many of us do initially as a little “Hallmarky”. One of her meditation friends and someone she greatly respected happened to mention that metta was a kind of game changer in their personal practice and this offhand comment stayed with her and fermented into an actual desire to check it out. Marie signed up for a one week metta retreat. This week was spent saying simple phrases like “May you be happy, May you be peaceful, May you be free” and extending a wish for well being out to others and to herself. At the end of it, she didn’t really feel anything very revolutionary had occurred but on going home, she noticed that everywhere she went she saw things with a softer eye and heart. She found herself sitting down with homeless sad people in the street instead of rushing on and quickly dropping a coin in their hat, having gentle and long conversations with them which she would never have done before. The retreat appeared to have evaporated a sense of fear and separation that she didn’t even know was part of the way she coped in a busy city.
Another teacher noted that after her first metta retreat, again reluctantly but curiously attended, she remembers dropping some item of toiletry on the ground and it broke. She wasn’t aware of any major transformation in her being even though the retreat had been pleasant enough if somewhat boring! However she immediately noticed that instead of the usual inner critic that would normally arise, she found herself saying to herself in an endearing way “Oh you dear klutz!” - very different to the usual spontaneous self-rant.
More recently - as mentioned in the meditation* above - on a Buddhist climate program that I have been attending, I listened to a teacher talk about coming out of a long period of depression that followed the death of a loved one. He attributed the eventual release from this challenging state of being from a daily and steady metta practice. It sounded like it was a slow and gradual process of thawing around and within the heart that helped him come back into a more engaged and balanced life.
One doesn’t have to spend an entire week of intense repetitive practice or be even a regular practitioner to taste some of the delights of metta. In an instant, just touching the heart or bringing to my mind an image of some being or place that you love, can create a different texture or feeling tone to the moment, to the pose, even the day! Being in the natural world is a metta practice in itself; bringing into our meditation or yoga or art practice, the inspiration of our fellow inhabitants of the planet - be they plant or rock or animal - is almost an express (expresso!) route to the heart for many of us.
Whether you are metta curious or even resistant!, I hope you can join me for a metta oriented month online or for the special weekend workshop 11/7-9 Nature as Guru where we will remind ourselves not only of our love of the planet but how the earth’s metta touches us.
”Knowing that you love the earth changes you, activates you to defend and protect and celebrate. But when you feel that the earth loves you in return, that feeling transforms the relationship from a one-way street into a sacred bond.”
ROBIN WALL KIMMERER
Thank You by Ross Gay
If you find yourself half naked
and barefoot in the frosty grass, hearing,
again, the earth's great, sonorous moan that says
you are the air of the now and gone, that says
all you love will turn to dust,
and will meet you there, do not
raise your fist. Do not raise
your small voice against it. And do not
take cover. Instead, curl your toes
into the grass, watch the cloud
ascending from your lips. Walk
through the garden's dormant splendor.
Say only, thank you.
Thank you
Thank You all for reading this whether you ever show up for a class or not, and for those who are part of our community online, much appreciation. My life would be so much less rich and heart filled without you!
I bow to you all and wish you a wonderful Samhain, Halloween, Dia de los Muertos, and any other festivities you are involved in at this time of the year.
Don’t forget our free Thanksgiving class.
