Why did the Sandhill Cross the Road?

Sandhill Crane

I Took a Walk Through the Pines This Morning After Turning Compost

I just found this poem as I was processing this photo.

That the self advances and confirms the ten thousand things

is called delusion;

That the ten thousand things advance and confirm the self

is called enlightenment.

- Zen Master Dogen Zenji, 1200 - 1253
Moon in a Dewdrop
Translated by Kazuaki Tanahashi

Murder at the Temple

As went to leave I felt very relaxed having just walked the forest path. Having ended the walk at the Stupa I did a bit of focused thinking, and as I walked away the birds seemed to want me to take photos of them. I notice crows everywhere as they're a very prevalent species and do well living around humans. I'd never seen a more perfectly arraigned murder. I wish I was a musician so I could turn them into notes to see what played.

#Corvidae #crow #Corvus #brachyrhynchos #Corvubrachyrhynchos #birding #bird #birds #dharma #buddhist #buddhism #learningthedharma #meditation #puja #soulsearching #training #findingmyself #monastery #stupa #meditation #holyplace #holy #peace #namaste #buddha

Calm

“If you can solve your problem, then what is the need of worrying? If you cannot solve it, then what is the use of worrying?” ~Shantideva ཞི་བ་ལྷ།

#dharma #buddhist #buddhism #learningthedharma #meditation #puja #soulsearching #training #findingmyself #monastery #stupa #meditation #holyplace #holy #peace #namaste #buddha

Breathing is Everything

At the seminar by Luiz Claudio Augusto this past weekend Luiz talked about a breathing exercise he does to warm up and get his body ready. It was a pretty straight forward method of breathing out through the nose with force using the abdomen. These breaths would be in multiples of 10 each time, so 10x, 20x, 30x, etc.., with a relaxed and complete deflation between sets. I texted my self the details and then talked about with him afterwards. As I prepared to go do my Monday routine I tried it. I thought it was going to be easy to do! Simple in concept, it really worked my diaphragm in a effective way. Doing it 50x times was revealing. It also cleared out my sinuses completely, and after smoking a chicken on the grill yesterday I was a bit congested! I also got light headed from so much oxygen. I had to stop and share this before going on with my routine. Now I am ready for the weightroom, meditation practice and then BJJ with Thales Blaso. It's going to be an awesome day! "Oss!"

#bjj #bjj4life #brazilianjiujitsu #jiujitsulifestyle #jiujitsu #graciejiujitsu #martialarts #grappling #bjjlife #jiujitsulife #fitness #bluebeltproblems #bluebelt #gym #fighttraining #Selfdefense #bjjtraining #martialartslife #fitnessjourney #artesuave #oss #mma #graciejj #bjjmadison #bjjwisconsin #riseup #riseupmartialarts

Rollerderby Blocker

a blocker who’s girly, not prissy
you won’t see her throwing a hissy
but the pain that’s entailed
with the way you’ll get railed
you won’t forget a spanking by Sissy

Intrepid

A perfectly carefree, early spring Sunday. She's starting to want to go further and further away from us as we walk as a family. She's not rebellious as much as just very intrepid. So far, she'll still wait at the corners. So I still have that.