Leroy and I went to the park yesterday but when I started turning right to leave, he pulled hard to go left.  He is a stubborn poodle so I said, “Okay, we can walk around the fountain that way today,” and to the left we went.  Where there was a huge crowd gathered around and lot of buzzing conversations.  Then I saw what was going on — there were literally hundreds of boxes sitting on the ground under the big famous arch at the end of Fifth Avenue.  Every box was wrapped in a coral colored cloth with a bow on top — a Japanese kind of wrapping thing.  It looked amazing and beautiful.  People were all excited and taking the boxes.  I looked around to see if it was a giveaway from some big company like Revlon or something but, no.  No big promotional thing happening.  So I thought, I’ll take a box, too.  I picked one up and then I thought, “No.  I don’t want this.  I don’t want more stuff.”  So I put it down and started to walk away and then I saw a tiny sign that said:

EMPTY IS NOT EMPTY. FULL IS NOT FULL.

Well, that hooked me right then and there because it was obviously a rephrasing of the most important Buddhist sutra, the Prajna Paramita Sutra, which begins, “Form is emptiness.  Emptiness is form.”  So I picked up a box.  It was very light.  It was obviously empty.  I hesitated.  I wondered if I should try another box that was heavier so I could get one with someone in it and not one with nothing in it.  It was not because of my nonattachment-like nature but because I felt embarrassed to be seen in public ( even though there was no one there that I knew…) picking and choosing which box to get, that I did stick with that very light, obviously empty box.  I sat down on a park bench and opened it up.  It was fun to unwrap the coral colored cloth.  It was a cardboard box that would be the right size for a baseball cap.  Inside was a piece of paper which said:

“YOU CAN DO ONE SMALL AND GRACEFUL THING TO SAVE THE PLANET BY REUSING THIS BOX AND CLOTH.  THE CLOTH IS WASHABLE AND IRONABLE.

SUGGESTIONS: USE THE CLOTH TO WRAP A PRESENT, TOTE YOUR GROCERY, FASHION INTO A PIECE OF CLOTHING, OR USE YOUR IMAGINATION.”

IF YOU’D LIKE TO LEARN ABOUT BOJAGI USES, GOOGLE BOJAGI OR BOJAGI WRAPPING.

THANK YOU,

UJIN LEE, ARTIST

WWW.UJINLEEART.COM

I left the box on the park bench.  Leroy and I walked home with the cloth.  We saw people blocks away from the park carrying the boxes, still wrapped.  I guess they were waiting until they got home to open their surprise package.

Check out my second blog on the Huffington Post.  The words of my precious teacher, Gelek Rimpoche, once again helped us figure things out.  If you have a chance to read the blog post, please leave a comment and let me know what you think.  Thanks!

  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cyndi-lee/yoga-drip-drip-the-bucket_b_407500.html

Here’s my top tip for how to do that:  Make Applesauce!  It really works.  Applesauce is so good and so satisfying that you will start to like it even better than chocolate.  Impossible, you say?  Well, I challenge you to give it a try.  And to encourage you, here is a step-by-step lesson in How To Make Applesauce.

Buy some apples. Whatever kind you want. If you can get to a farmer's market you can ask them which ones are the best for applesauce. I've used concord and they are good, good, good.

Cut them up in chunks. I like big chunks. Get about 5-6 pounds of apples which is way more than in these pictures. You will be shocked at how fast you and your peeps can eat that much applesauce.

Get a system going. Put a big pot on the stove and as you cut up apples toss them in. Then, wash a few more apples, cut and toss.

When all the apples are in the pot, pour in enough water to just cover the apples. I turn the heat on to high and when it starts boiling, I turn it down to simmer. Stir it whenever you feel like it. Throw in some cinnamon - as much as you want. You can also add raisins or pears or ginger. As the apples start to get soft, smush them against the side of the pot so the sauce is smooth-ish but a bit chunky.

Voila! I add it to my morning oatmeal and have for a treat. It is really nice heated up. YUM!

This is one of my tips for getting through the holidays in reasonably healthy shape.  For more, check out  my blog in the Huffington Post:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cyndi-lee/how-not-to-get-fat-this-c_b_403168.html

Dave and I are back at Kripalu for our annual November Yoga Body Buddha Mind weekend.  Wouldn’t you think that we would get sick of teaching this material?  Well, we don’t!  It is different every time because the group is different every time and we are different every time.  There are so many open hearted, curious, smart people with us this weekend and a large percentage of them are experienced yogis and experienced meditators.  Ten years ago it would have been the opposite percentage.  Pretty cool to see how much yoga and meditation has infiltrated our culture.

Getting twisted help unknot our energy body. Not to mention the detox bennies.

With a big group you just have to get up on the little platform thing so everybody can see you but I am always afraid I will fall off! Maybe some yoga teachers are more stationary than me, but my sequencing is spatially oriented and there is not enough room on this box. Whatever. It works okay for baddhakonasana.

When you lift your arms does your neck vanish? Does your chest sink? Is it super effortful? Then open them out into a V for vinyasa!

This is Jill, one of the many smart and groovy YBBM yogis and yoginis this weekend.

This is Kripalu's new yoga room which is gorgeous. Lots and lots of props, too! Thanks, Kripalu.

This is the view from our room up on the top of the hill. Barren winter beauty.

In addition to the Cyndisphere, which journals my travels and offers some yoga teaching, I have started another new blog called Yoga Body Buddha Mind. It is sponsored by the excellent Beliefnet.com. It will offer tips for how to find yoga (integration) and Buddha (wakefulness) in every day life. Today was my first entry. Check it out at

http://blog.beliefnet.com/yogabodybuddhamind/