There are some amazing and important events this week that you should try to attend if you can.  They are in support of the Tibetan community that had been in exile since the Chinese invaded them in the 1950s.  My teacher, Gelek Rimpoche, rode out in the back of a truck and never saw his parents again.  Trungpa Rimpoche walked out through the mountains, only moving at night and it took months.  These are the good stories.  It is still going on.  The children, elders, monks, nuns and all the Tibetans really need our help.  They have given us so much with their beautiful dharma teachings.  

Tomorrow night — at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine — a big concert with Laurie Anderson, Philip Glass, Bobby McFerrin and others hosted by Ann Curry — it’s not expensive and it will be super fun, I guarantee

Go to www.tibetfund.org to learn about the events, to contribute or to sponsor a person.  I have sponsored an elder before and it is so good to do that.  You will feel good, too. You can sponsor a child, a monk, a nun — read their stories.  It is so moving.  We are all connected – do what you can.

Thank you.

Just got home today from a 10 day retreat with Gelek Rimpoche in Michigan.  It snowed almost every day.  I am sleep deprived and deeply moved by the entire retreat.  Rimpoche was so inspiring.  His stamina is incredible — way beyond any of his younger, more fit, students….like me.  I am looking forward to sleeping some this week because my dreams have been filled with mantras lately.  Which isn’t a bad thing…

My precious guru.

…about the awesome, smart, fun and inspiring Neil Theise coming to OM yoga tomorrow night to give a talk on STEM CELLS AND THE SCIENCE OF BEING.

It’s Wednesday, Feb. 17 from 7-8:30.  Click this link for more info:

http://www.omyoga.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=181:feb-17-stem-cells-a-the-science-of-being&catid=96&Itemid=93

http://www.omyoga.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=181:feb-17-stem-cells-a-the-science-of-being&catid=96&Itemid=93

Here is the link to Gelek Rimpoche’s teaching on line on this subject.  

http://www.tricycle.com/online-retreats/four-noble-truths/first-noble-truth-suffering

My teacher, Gelek Rimpoche, is giving an online retreat through Tricycle Magazine.  It is an 8 week course about the Four Noble Truths.  I am going to take it and I highly recommend it.  Go to tricycle.com and join as a sustaining member ($30) and then you can take the retreat which starts tomorrow.  I have heard Rimpoche teach on this subject before and it is not to be missed!

This was how the sunrise looked outside my window the other day.

An urban morning but the rising sunlight is still beautiful reflecting off the branches of the barren winter tree.

That was last week.  This was this morning.

That's our city at work, folks.

Yes, when Nudgie and I came home on Tuesday night there was a big sign on our front door informing the residents of our building that NYC was turning off our water at 8:30am the next morning.  sigh.  I don’t know why but I think it might have something to do with a big, schmancy new hotel that is opening on the new block.  So I got up early to relate to this non-water situation.  The thing is that I normally do get up early.  But I don’t do anything interactive with others, except Leroy.  As you know, I am around many people all day long, and I love it, but I need my quiet alone time, too, and that is the morning.  I like to stay in my jammies and read and be quiet.  But I got up and jumped in the shower, brushed my teeth, made the coffee, made the oatmeal, freshened Leroy’s bowl — did all things water that needed to happen before 8:30am.  During the process I became grumpy.  I was definitely out of my normal rhythm and I dropped the top of my moisturizer bottle in the toilet (icky) and I spilled my coffee and stubbed my toe.  But I also was developing a nice resentment about the whole situation.  It was out of my control and that made me resentful.  I guess.  But then, guess what?  The water never did get turned off and so there I was in a bad mood with nothing to blame it on.  But by then it was so big and solid that I didn’t want to let it go.  So I ended up so crabby that I actually gave myself a headache.  Finally, at a certain point, I relaxed and figured out what I was doing and it made me laugh.  Whew!  I guess in the end that could be called analytical meditation but it sure took me a while to get there.  I guess I need to practice more.  Does anybody resonate with this kind of scenario?

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

We are so honored.  An excerpt of a piece Dave and I wrote for The Shambhala Sun has been included in the current issue.  The section is called For 30 Years the Best of Buddhism in America: Meditation and our bit is called “Not Too Tight, Not Too Loose.”  Check it out, page 67.  Some of others included are Chogyam Trungpa Rimpoche, Tulku Tondup, Sharon Salburg, and Thich Nhat Hanh.  As I said, we are so honored.

Last weekend at Blue Point Yoga in Durham, NC — what fun!  It is third annual OM yoga teacher training program and each year the students get better and better.  I have to think it has something to do with the fact that many of the Blue Point teachers are now OM yoga trained and are teaching OM yoga classes right there at Blue Point.  Anyway, the southerners really know how to host people and we had a lovely time.

Moving through spine through curling and arching, as if it was a walking meditation up and down each vertebrae.

Mindfulness of toe, of alignment, of how the foot sets up the rest of the body. I always start adjustments from the ground up.