If we want to be reborn—to be open to truth, to experience greater wholeness, and to awaken to the fullness of life—we must die to the known and the familiar, everything that keeps us enslaved in our present condition. As many of us find ourselves unwilling to let go and even cherish who we think we are, one of our teachers use to say that you cannot make an omelette […]
Laura Dunn
A Visit with Ram Dass
“I Am Loving Awareness”Last Saturday, we had the opportunity to visit and interview Ram Dass at his home amidst the exceptional natural beauty of Maui. To say that we were deeply moved and touched to our core would be an understatement. There are no words that can accurately reflect having darshan with a genuine spiritual teacher, a highly public explorer of consciousness since the early 1960’s. Without a doubt, Ram […]
Diamonds and Rust: Art and Inner Life
A Conversation with David Ulrich Art is a non-verbal communication between artist and viewer, and yoga is a means towards connection and wholeness within a field of fragmentation. And from the simple act of conversation and creative collaboration between two people can emerge a completely new entity. David Ulrich and I have shared many conversations about art, yoga, and inner work over the past year, which is in fact, how The Slender Thread began. […]
Learning To See
The Power of Direct PerceptionMy predilection is to see, because only by seeing can a man of knowledge know. —Don Juan as reported by Carlos Castaneda First I must look, then I must learn. —Theodore Roethke We have become a nation of specialists. This is a good thing since it allows all individuals to find an area of focused interest that corresponds closely to their talents and predilections. My specific […]
The Reenchantment of Vision
Opening the Gates of PerceptionWhen I was growing up, we hungered for the sight of the soul—to witness the invisible, slender threads that interweave all things and to search for a connection to the underlying sacredness and mystery of life. Many of us took drugs. A lot of them. I didn’t. I meditated. Either way, we longed for a taste of the infinite. “This is how one ought to see, […]
What is Inspiration?
A sudden answer to a long perplexing problem, a burst of insight that deeply informs your creative work, a moment of wisdom that changes the shape of your life forever or even the fabric of society; these moments are highly inspiring. As artists and creative individuals, we seek to know—and come to rely upon—these stunning moments of epiphany and insight. It is said that Beethoven could “hear” the music, and […]
Why I love Yoga
I love yoga for two reasons: Outer Awareness & Inner Awakening. First, yoga has given me the gift of health and vitality. I was never a very athletic or healthy child. I was always in the nurse’s office for one reason or another. I was always the last picked person for volleyball in elementary school. I did gymnastics and dance in school, but generally felt awkward and disconnected from my […]
The Earth: What Have We Done, What Can We Do?
The earth needs healing. Now. As we enter the New Year, perhaps it is time to think beyond our own prosperity, our own happiness, our own success, and look at the pleas of mother earth. No longer can we naively view nature as a virgin, pristine presence—as generations have done in the past. We must look ahead and witness the legacy of our consumption and inattention on the generations to […]