A Little Extra Magic

A little extra magic: 

about a year ago I wrote a little on foxes and owls, of how they were the sacred sights I always wished to see on my early morning walks. It's not that I don't truly love my every encounter with all of nature, but that these two seemed most elusive to me , sensing their presence yet seldom gifted with a sighting. It's been through patience and the consistency of walking, plus no small amount of the grace of good fortune, that I've occasionally been able to sight these magical creatures, even discovering where an owl been nesting and getting some clear filming in through the day. Mostly though it's just a rare glimpse of one or the other, a quick flash of red darting into the bushes, or owls hooting from a dark tree above me. And that's always enough for me, to know they're nearby, watching me as I search the edges of landscape and sky for them. 

it's enough to know they're here.

and sometimes...

a little extra magic happens.

like yesterday, a June morning with that hint of extra sunlight, my steps guided by some intuitive sense of locating something truly special - and a family of three foxes appear on a nearby hillside, close enough to amaze me even without my camera zooming in, playful, and lingering to watch me as I studied them. A true gift indeed, and they literally seemed to grant my wish of a moments filming. Definitely a little extra magic here. 

it's hard to walk away from such a rare encounter, but as the Tao Te Ching offers - retire when the work is done, knowing that this is the way to heaven. So not even reluctantly, yet fully content with the gift received, I turn my steps towards my home, my heart completely happy. Then, maybe half a mile from this magical encounter, an owl swoops by, only inches from my head, pursued by a much smaller bird who was obviously protecting her nesting young, and it landed on a nearby branch, clearly perplexed by these events yet willing to sit with me awhile, giving me the same advantage as the foxes. 

a little extra magic.

once again I filmed to just the point where it felt enough, no more, patient, and trusting in this magic. I don't need to press for extra time, having been given plenty already and knowing that mystery loves contentment, that it's the true value of its gift having been received. With this, and nothing more to do, my walk continued towards home, mostly uneventful - except for a flash of red amidst the bushes not from my front door. A cardinal, brilliantly framed by deep summer green and willing to sit for a moment, posing for my camera. 

a little extra magic. 

Peace, Eric 

To read more from Headless Now, please visit: As If a Mountain

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As If a Mountain

As if a mountain: 

most often now, it seems the asanas that call to me are the more basics ones, solid, leaving me grounded and feeling strongly connected to the world. Through the years of my yoga practice I have come to listen to the inner urge that guides me to a certain pose at just the right time, never failing to help me reach a sense of deep healing and connection. These past few sessions it has been tadasana, mountain pose, one of the least challenging  posture, at least in appearance, but it's definitely a beautiful alignment of the body, satisfying in it's complete display of poise and balance. 

as well as being healing. 

tadasana puts my spine in order, straightening vertebrae, lengthening, and leading me to feel connected to the earth as my arms reach upwards to the air. The name itself evokes the sense of enduring through time, that I'm eternal in my stance of pure awareness, indeed, essential to the very landscape of existence. I think this is why it now appeals so strongly to me, that I needed to heal from recent loss, to feel as if I belonged to something lasting beyond my personal world. 

tadasana lead me to my connection. 

a stance of awareness.

as if a mountain. 

~

Peace, Eric 

To read more from Headless Now, please visit: Gone

Also, please visit to buy: Emotional Yoga 

Thank you. 

Gone

Gone:

two days ago, for the first time ever, a tornado touched down in my backyard, sweeping through just a small portion of the neighborhood before it disappeared. Fortunately no lives were lost and the property damage seems to me a minimum, a few smashed car and signs down, but nothing that won't soon be replaced. Sadly though, there's fallen trees, some uprooted and others just snapped in half, splintered by the force of wind. It's my childhood home that I'm living in right now, and these trees have been present throughout my life, experiences of bird-songs and shade, watching squirrels scammer at play, and simply basking in the presence that every tree offers. 

on truth, I took these trees for granted.

and now gone,

my appreciation shows deeply.

to be fair to myself, I've always loved these trees, and when I say that I took them for granted it's really only in the general sense that I believed they'd last beyond my lifetime. I love the beauty of trees, their individuality as well as their unity of design. If a branch is down due to any storm I mourn the damage to the tree, offering a prayer for it's healing every time I walk by. But I never really considered them no longer being here, even as I pass fallen trees through the deeper woods along the many paths of my neighborhood, it never occurred to be that my own nearby trees might no longer share their presence. Yet now I see the wounded earth of their absence, a part of my own history gone, and deeply realize my own brief and transitory lifetime.

in an instant too, 

I'll be gone. 

without even a wound against the earth left behind. 

it's an important consideration, that my lifespan is so much less than almost every tree, but my presence just as vital in it's own unique way. I've fed these neighborhood tress with my breath and the gaze of my attention, felt their shade and enjoyed their fragrance, they were loved for all they offered, and more, for the simplicity and ease of their presence. 

in this consideration...

my own brief lifespan, has a legacy of love and deep appreciation. 

nothing really needs to be left behind.

it's enough to have existed. 

and truly been alive. 

~

Peace, Eric 

To read more from Headless Now, please visit: This is How It Happens

Also, please visit to buy: The Undertsory

Thank you. 

This is How it Happens

This is how it happens: 

most of the time I just leave it to the flow of words, no topic in mind, writing for the sake of whatever now unfolds. At one point this was a cause for deep frustration, not having a theme would leave me feeling fearful and adrift within an empty page, having little faith that inspiration would guide me through my writing. I'm much more trustful in the process these days, relaxed, and unconcerned with how the words will flow - 

thoughts always seem to find the page.

I wish I could offer guidance on how this has happens, provide some sort of blueprint that others might follow. But honestly, I don't really know, it's a mystery to me, and perhaps that's the secret right there - it's okay to not know whatever might come next, if anything at all, that if the very worst fearful thing that follows the last written word is absolute silence....

then reside in the stillness of the moment.

for however long.

unafraid.

relaxed.

don't try and make anything happen, there's no room for force here, effort won't make words arrive any faster. In fact, effort, concentration, actually slow the process to a near standstill. Just enjoy the silence, surrender to it, trust that words will appear completely on their own and their pace can't be measured by the standards of our time. 

there it is, the best that I can offer.

not so much a plan.

but this is how it happens.

~

Peace, Eric 

To read more from Headless Now, please visit: But It Took Awhile

Also, please visit to buy: the Artist's Way 

Thank you. 

But It Took Awhile

 

But it took awhile: 

this morning, according to my weather app, sunrise is at 5:41 a.m, and at least for another week or so, it will continue trending earlier, as it has for several months now. Soon though, the trend reverses and we'll lose just a few minutes each day to a darker morning. I've looked forward to these light-filled mornings all through winter, keeping track of dawn's arrival, eager for my first glimpse of a favored sunrise. I'm enjoying these last few weeks of early light, soaking up the healthy benefits of those early morning rays, and at the same time remembering that so very soon I'll be letting go...

darker mornings are once more just ahead.

and I'm perfectly fine with the slight sadness this surrender, feeling in stride with the cycle of dawn's gain and loss of light, and more so, eager to again embrace the mystery of those darker mornings. That's the paradox here, holding those opposing emotional views without any apparent contradictions within, simply accepting, accepting, and accepting. 

always. 

but it took awhile to arrive here, really, a lifetime to reach this point. 

and now, 

I just smile at all, how I once struggled to hold on to every inch of light, afraid of the soft approach of darkness and how it sneak it's way towards me. I'm unafraid of my own contradictions, that I can be the very source of light as well as a shadow event playing through my life. 

I've reach the point where everything's allowed...and amazingly, smiling now...

seeing that it always was,

all along the way. 

~

Peace, Eric

To read more from Headless Now, please visit:  Others

Also, please visit to buy: The Light Eaters 

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Others

Others: 

at a certain point our lives are called to service. Maybe not overtly so, with no grand gesture of turning our backs to the life we know and working solely for a charity, or perhaps not even noticed by anyone at all. Just a small, quiet life of serving others through infinite acts of care and love. That's the beauty of where my path has now brought me, surrendering my once great concerns for life to the more immediate care for others. 

again, small things.

but it feels enough for me.

I'm reminded of how Ramana Maharshi was once asked by a follower as to how we should treat others, and his reply was brought forth with a smile and the reminder that "there are no others" - and finally now, I seem to deeply understand this, more so, to intimately know that this is true. 

and so,

just a small, quiet life of service,

through infinite acts of love and care.

it seems perfectly natural now.

~

Peace, Eric 

To read more from Headless Now, please visit: A Lifetime of Practice

Also, please visit to buy: Grist Fr The Mill

Thank you. 

A Lifetime of Practice

A lifetime of practice: 

still, after all this time, decades of practicing yoga, and I still fall out of the easiest, most basic poses. It's exactly why I love my practice, that it's never a settled matter, always a balancing point between focus and relaxation and I simply can't commit to one aspect without the possibility of compromising the other. It's a constant flow of energy, mindfulness, built into the fabric of all my favorite postures. 

especially, right now, vrksasana,

tree pose.

it seems I'm almost always tempted to approach this posture casually, being long familiar with it, fairly proficient since my earliest days of yoga. Yet I take it lightly at my own risk of sacrificing the grace that it offers, missing out of the opportunity to remain rooted in the earth of my connection while my spine lengthens tall and my arms branch upwards to the sky. Any breach of focus, errant breath, or not allowing myself the right moment of relaxation -

and the pose remains incomplete.

a half attempt at best. 

vrksasana demands the most of my practice.

every pose does, really.

and of course, all of life does too. 

that's the true value of yoga, learning to momentarily fall from grace, to catch ourselves, and simply, easily, recommit to practice. Nothing more can ever be expected from us, our life is our practice and it's never really mastered, it's just a series of moments that call for the best of our attention. A lifetime of practice. 

it's all yoga.

~

Peace, Eric 

To read more from Headless Now, please visit: Love and Practice

Also, please visit to buy: Yoga For A World Our of Balance

Thank you.