A Little Video to offer the inspiration for a good, long,deep and freeing exhale. Ahhhhh…ha ha ha.

……. …… ….. …..

I was having a lovely cup of tea with Jane Burdick and at some point in the conversation, there was this great silence between us which melted into laughter.  And then it continued so long it was as if the laughter was so great it was just laughter laughing the laughter.  It was a lovely moment and as the conversation continued we began to explore what this was.  It was like silence that is alive.  One of us used the words “living silence”.  And this phrase has stayed with me since then.

What is living silence?

When I think of this expression it is to me the same as what I talk about with living levity.  It is when we are at rest within ourselves and at the same time engaged in the experience of the world or living.  There is a beautiful balance of being still within one’s being and in movement outside in daily living.

There are many practices to still and balance the mind/body-these can be meditation, yoga, dance etc or range to what we feel are unhealthier approaches such as drinking, partying, and substance abuse.  Yet, all are aiming to bring the quiet within, either by opening to the stillness(aliveness) itself or in a desperate deluge to rid oneself of the noise.

What is the nature of this stillness, this silence, this aliveness?

The idea of living silence comes from the physical experience of it.  When we slow down, I mean….slllloooooowwww down (this comes from a being who once knew great velocity)  we begin to notice what is happening on a physical or “felt sense” level: how the breath feels entering our body, how the cells of our body are today, what the chest feels like.  Is it hard to breathe? Does the breath flow easily?  How does the belly feel physically (notice where the mind wants to assign an emotion or judgement to it)?  This is simply an observation.  How does the chest feel?  Allow it to be purely a physical sensation (rather than emotional-unhappy, confused, joyful) Whatever you feel or sense whether it is relaxed, tense, open, tingly, whirling, etc sit with it and take a breath with it.

This is where it gets good.  The next step is usually…”Oh I feel tension in my ribs, okay, I will now ‘try’ to relax it”  No No no….just let it be.  :)  This is bringing in the vital element of wonder.  We are simply taking a moment to wonder and “be with” the experience. So rather than trying to “shift” anything or transform the energy, just watch it and ask, “What is this?” as if you have never experienced the feeling before and so do not have a judgment of it. (Once you are accustomed to it, this noticing is great fun.)

As we get more comfortable just sitting with it, there comes to be a very alive quality in the sensation.  When the perception of it being a good or bad sensation is let go of and we just wonder with it, we begin to notice a sort heartbeat and aliveness to the sensation.

Enjoy practicing this.

It is very palpable when we go into it.  And in this, we sense a “livingness” in the silence that is infinite in its expression.

We begin to feel as if WE are being breathed, being lived, being danced in our every day.  In this way, there is a aliveness that is flowing into and out of all things.  And the sad news (one might say) is that it does not belong to us , and the good news (one might say) is that we belong to it.  We are this living silence.

You are invited, however it may call you, to practice living as this silence whether it looks like the inquiry of simply noticing the body and wondering at how it feels instead of firmly knowing it through the mind’s eye.  You can be an observer of it and wonder. Or  you can inquire what it is like to live as this silence in every day. It has little to do with talking or not talking.  It has more to do with the quality of aliveness and lightness.  Notice how being devoted to the living silence guides or changes your daily patterns.  What is it like?

And then slowly, we all come to see that this silence is indeed everywhere, it is the breath falling out of your body, it is the song washing into mine, and it is the wind in the cloud passing by, and in the laughter pouring between friends. It is everywhere within and without all existence.  It is the essential fabric of our being here.

On April 14, the Washington-based organization SPACIOUS, hosted a “Be/Bring Your Own Kid Adult Recess,” event in Washington’s Meridian Hill Park. The pie throwing party was the highlight, allowing stressed out Washingtonians to play.

The group hopes to trick out decommissioned ice cream trucks and deploy them to cruise the city offering services such as on-the-spot hairdressing, chefs serving up cookies and milk or “recess teams” that will bring line-dancing flash mobs to downtown sidewalks. They’d be called Spacious mobiles, and you’d able to follow their routes on Twitter.

“This city is so obsessed with business and politics — you have to work 50 hours a week and then go to all the right happy hours — that we don’t prioritize recess and fun,” said Joey Katona, 23, the group’s co-founder.

Spacious and similar projects across the country constitute what stress experts call the “Play Movement,” an informal alliance of academics, therapists and human resources experts that is spreading the word about the role of playfulness in maintaining mental and physical health.

In the past seven months, there have been four national conferences on the value of play; a fifth, “The Importance of Being Playful,” will be hosted by the Minerva Foundation at the end of May at the University of California at Berkeley. A forthcoming documentary —“Seriously! The Future Depends on Play,” directed and produced by Bay Area “play consultant” Gwen Gordon — aims to illustrate how play restores health in communities around the world.

“We stop playing at our peril,” said Gordon, who’s also a member of theAssociation for the Study of Play, a membership organization for academics who study the salutary effects of recreation. “We think we are a playful culture, but we are really overworked. Americans on average have 13 paid vacation days per year, and most people don’t even take them. Other countries have 40. We take our weekends to play hard, but that’s really to let off steam from our play-deprived lives and just get enough energy to get back into the ring.”

The Levity Institute, based in South Portland, Maine, aims to restore “lightheartedness” to society. It advises adults to dance in grocery stores, rock out in their cars or just blow bubbles for the fun of it, said Katie West, a former life coach who runs the nonprofit.

“Certainly stress levels are very high,” said David Ballard, who directs theAmerican Psychological Association’s Psychologically Healthy Workplace Program. The APA’s 2012 Workplace Survey found that low salaries were the top workplace source of stress along with lack of opportunity for advancement and heavy workloads.

“People are working longer hours and also don’t feel valued, which gets tied to physical and mental health and motivation — so a conga line could be a great way to get people outside, get them moving and connect humor and happiness to work, and that’s important,” he said.

The new Micro-movement from The Levity Project is here!

(And we are really excited about this one!)

We are asking you to

LIVE YOUR YES!

Sound fun? YES!

What is it?  A micro-movement is when we at The Levity Project send out a mission to Levity Project Players around the world that you can do in your own town or city with yourself or with friends and family (or strangers!). The idea of The Levity Project is that when we live in our own true joy and radiance it inspires those around us.

We believe we are agents of change by who we are not just in what we do.  So we begin within with our own inner levity, and then we enjoy going into a public place and laugh, play and celebrate alone or with others. For fun, you video yourself and we compile all the videos into one so that our individual acts of levity become one collective experience.

THE MISSION:

What we want you to do is find that part of your life that lights all parts of you up.  It can be an activity, a place, an experience, a connection that makes your whole being go ZING!

And when you are in the presence of this part of your life, you feel connected to yourself and deeply in the present moment.

We want you to film your own YES!

Your YES is something that opens you, something that makes you feel joyful and happy, and it is something that makes you feel ALIVE!

For examples, it might be dancing, riding your bike, doing crosswords, looking at the sky, climbing a mountain, waving on a street hugging, etc!  It is whatever is YES to you.

Oh and one more thing…

Place the word YES somewhere in your film clip.  It can be written on a piece of paper, your arm, the wall…anywhere!  Just shine your YES somewhere in your video clip of you living your joy.

THE INSPIRATION:

As in our other videos, when you see someone doing what they love, it makes us feel joyful.  When we play and do what we love, we light up and that light sparkles to all those around us.  It is a gift we give by being in our deepest joy.

And why YES?  When we say yes, we are open to what is inside us and what is around us.  When we say yes our heart is open.  The origins of YES come from “to be”(!), so we like to think of it as when we live in our yes, we are aligned with our true being. How beautiful is that?

Please join us in playing and celebrating your true being by showing us what you love and what is your yes right now in your life!

THE LOGISTICS:

What: Film yourself doing what you love–anything that makes you feel YES- video yourself for 15 seconds to 1 minute AND Include the written word yes somewhere in the shot of you doing what you love, however creatively you want to display it.(please don’t film edit it in) Thx!

Do include your city, state and country when you email us your video.

When: Do this mission by April 15th

Why:  To play together in our greatest love!

Who: YOU!  And anyone you want.

How: Shoot a short video and send to us UNEDITED via

YOUSENDIT.COM or MAIL BIG FILE (both have free trials)

to Ina (AT) thelevityproject (Dot) Com (Include your Location!!!)

I had the pleasure of sharing a chat with Bernie DeKoven of Deep Fun.  Bernie and I met at a conference almost two years ago. Immediately I was in awe of his sense of wonder and playfulness while being considered “an expert” about play and the flow state.  He has such a wisdom that emanates from him.

Here is a link to our conversation:

Bernie DeKoven and Katie West enjoy a chat about fun and the Playful Path

Also, below is a blog post of his that I love.  You can find more Bernie’s wisdom at Deepfun.com

Fun Is Easy

by BERNIE on JUNE 27, 2011

Fun is easy. It’s wherever you are, in whatever you are doing or sensing or thinking. It’s between you and the person you’re with or the machine you’re using or the table you’re sitting at or the path you’re walking down. It’s not something to strive for. But something to melt into, to sink into, to open up to. Listen. You can almost hear the laughter. Breathe. You can almost taste the joy. Listen a little more closely. Breathe a little more deeply. And there it is again. Fun. Real fun. Deep, forever fun.

So, look, I’m sorry if all these articles about how important fun is, and how many games there are to play and learn and how you can learn to lead games and how you can help other people have more fun and be a fun coach and stuff and things – I’m sorry if I somehow gave you the impression that fun is one of those things you have to study (though studying fun can be great fun) or teach (same with teaching fun) or coach people in (ditto with the fun potential).

Fun isn’t the hard thing. The hard thing is remembering to have it. Even when you spend your lifesavings on something you think will be the most fun you’ve ever had or will have, you forget. Instead, you start thinking about how much more fun it will be when you land, how much more fun it will be when you finally unpack, and how much more fun than that it will be when you finally get back home. Or you start believing, maybe because someone told you, that you have to earn it, or deserve it, or get wise enough or enlightened enough or have sacrificed enough or been good enough.

No, no, no. I say again, no. Fun is easy. It’s the most natural feeling there is. It’s life. It’s living. It’s being a being. Don’t let me or anyone else make you think other. Remembering to have fun might be hard. Believing that you can have fun might be hard. Allowing yourself to have fun might be hard. But fun? Fun is easy.

From Fun is Easy at DeepFun.com

We are so delighted to share with you the latest micro-movement video from the Levity Project!  

Thank you to all for being a part of this!

BLOWING BUBBLES OF JOY

What is it?  A micro-movement is when we at The Levity Project send out a mission to Levity Project Players around the world that you can do in your own town or city with yourself or with friends and family (or strangers!). The idea of The Levity Project is that when we live in our own true joy and radiance it inspires those around us. We believe we are agents of change by who we are not just in what we do.  So we begin within with our own inner levity, and then we enjoy going into a public place and laugh, play and celebrate alone or with others. For fun, we asked people to video themselves blowing bubbles and then we compiled all the videos into one so that our individual acts of levity become one collective experience.

THE INSPIRATION:

So….this is a very special Levity Project as it hits right on the heart of all that we do.  Bubbles are luminescent, uplifting, and cause us to pause in their momentary beauty.  Bubbles illustrate so perfectly the nature of Being Here Now (thanks Ram Dass!)  If we are looking elsewhere, we miss the moment of the bubble’s glory.  In their sweet and delightful way, bubbles command us to celebrate their presence in our life at this very moment.  And of course, the enjoyment is shared by all who are around, young and old alike.

THE DEDICATION:

Ina and Katie dedicate this Blowing Bubbles Micro-movement to our Moms both who transitioned out of this physical world this year within just a few months of each other.  We want to dedicate this event to allowing ourselves to be deeply present for whatever is happening here and now.

We are so appreciative to all of you who are a part of this community and who come and play with us!

COMING UP….

We will be announcing the next micro-movement in 2 weeks! Check back so you can be a part of it!  It is going to be much much fun!

(Reposted from January)

The Levity Project is asking for your help

with our new micro-movement.

BLOWING BUBBLES OF JOY 

What is it?  A micro-movement is when we at The Levity Project send out a mission to Levity Project Players around the world that you can do in your own town or city with yourself or with friends and family (or strangers!). The idea of The Levity Project is that when we live in our own true joy and radiance it inspires those around us. We believe we are agents of change by who we are not just in what we do.  So we begin within with our own inner levity, and then we enjoy going into a public place and laugh, play and celebrate alone or with others. For fun, you video yourself and we compile all the videos into one so that our individual acts of levity become one collective experience.

THE INSPIRATION:

So….this is a very special Levity Project as it hits right on the heart of all that we do.  Bubbles are luminescent, uplifting, and cause us to pause in their momentary beauty.  Bubbles illustrate so perfectly the nature of Being Here Now (thanks Ram Dass!)  If we are looking elsewhere, we miss the moment of the bubble’s glory.  In their sweet and delightful way, bubbles command us to celebrate their presence in our life at this very moment.  And of course, the enjoyment is shared by all who are around, young and old alike.

THE MISSION:

We want you to GO BLOW BUBBLES!!!!

(This is a great micro-movement for those who felt like dancing in a grocery store was a bit out of the comfort zone!!!)  Ha ha ha.

Go somewhere in a public place-the town square, the top of a mountain, a dance club, your yoga class, a city monument-wherever!  and blow bubbles for your own and others enjoyment.  The fun part too is bringing along a friend (heck gather 50 people to blow bubbles together somewhere).  You can even bring extra bubbles to share with passer-bys.  What fun!

Make a 15 second – 1 minute video clip of yourself.

Surprise us with how creative you can be!

THE LOGISTICS:

What: Go somewhere and Blow Bubbles and video yourself for 15 seconds to 1 minute

When: Do this mission by Feb 10th

Why:  Why not?  and well, to celebrate the here and now and its beauty.

Who: YOU!  And anyone you want.

How: Shoot a short video and send to us UNEDITED via

YOUSENDIT.COM or MAIL BIG FILE (both have free trials)

to Ina (AT) thelevityproject (Dot) Com (Include your Location!!!)

THE DEDICATION:

Ina and Katie dedicate this Blowing Bubbles Micro-movement to our Moms both who transitioned out of this physical world this year within just a few months of each other.  We want to dedicate this event to allowing ourselves to be deeply present for whatever is happening here and now.

Please join us!

We are so appreciative to all of you who are a part of this community and who come and play with us

(This piece was written after my mom transitioned from this world into the non-physical a couple of months ago. My mom had severe depression as well a physically debilitating disease. For many years because of her depression, I saw that her being played the role a zen master would traditionally fill for a student; shining the light into the dark places within us that we may not want to see. A Zen Master or Guru asks us to not hide and to allow ourselves to see our true nature that is the nature of all. Below is a tribute to the part of her that served as this master for me. I will always have a deep appreciation for what it offered me-the gift of knowing how to bow.)

This is a tribute to all the Zen Masters in our daily lives and may we have the courage to face what they are asking us to face within ourselves.

There is a great journey in us all. Sometimes I see it so clearly as one from the sky–saying “Ahhh yes, I see that turn and that twist….I know which way to head.” and in other moments it is the way of a foggy moonless night at the beach. I know the sea is there as a way to mark the direction but all else is unknown. Both landscapes offer us the fullness of the entire journey (even if we get our pants soaked by the incoming tide many times) !

The last two weeks since my mom’s transition, I have found that I have been noticing this process through the cellular level. I have often joked that I probably never ended up going to India to live in an Ashram or to find my guru-simply because I had my own self made guru living with me and near me in my mother. I called my guru everyday; I visited nearly the same. I learned deep service. I learned how to be humble even when all inside me wanted to shout in the spirit of the great Sinatra song “Let me do it my way!” I learned my way was not of the great importance I thought it was. I learned my inner being can not only survive but shine while being wholly in the service with a guru who offers no praise and no thanks. I learned to find the thanks within.

And most importantly, I learned from this guru to love when at times no love is seemingly returned. I learned in this way to not look to the guru for the love but instead to delight in the love of the songbirds piping away outside my window, the gleeful mischief of my children, the shared hug, and the knowing glance of one who seems to be a stranger but who we feel we know with our whole being in the slice of an instant, and in this way, I found the love within.

From my guru, I l earned that All is Love. That we can never be separated from it-in its myriad forms and expressions. it is what makes the entire fabric of our here-ness.

The weekend before her transition I was leading a retreat for some close women friends and during that time I knew within it was time to leave my guru. I was letting my role of student to this guru go. As some wonderful Buddhist story recalls-The raft of the teachings can take you part of the way across the river, but ultimately, we must swim the rest of the way on our own without the safety of a guru or teachings. That weekend I could feel myself jumping off the raft silently slipping into the river with all the fear, trepidation and delight as might be suspected. It was in that weekend that I softly pushed the raft down stream-letting go of the lifeforce connecting me with the guru in my mom.

I knew that it was the energy I had lifelong dedicated to this lifeforce that was enabling my mom to stay here in a physical body in my daily experience. So as I began to offer the guru back the teachings-it was no surprise when I awoke Monday morning to the call of her floating downstream. As it must be, the guru becomes a student, the student a guru and all in all we all become the river.

Yesterday morning as I sat crying on my bed, a morning dove- a long time favorite of my mother’s-tried to fly in through the window. It was the oddest experience of knowing it was trying to get into me….to comfort. In that moment, there was a kinship of all life. A loving each other as we love ourselves and loving ourselves as we love each other.

At sunset of the same day, I walked solo down a very familiar mile long beach near my mom’s house bearing my mom’s ashes across my back in a sideways bag-unknowingly like a cross. I walked barefoot. As I made it to the other side, birds were nearby, the clouds were illumined and I was full of peace even with the weight of the cross on my back. All my lessons in humility, were here. I was full of the deepest appreciation for this gift of bowing to another. I was honored to be able to lower my head and know that in doing so I was honoring the Sat Guru- the inner guru.

I lit a candle surrounded by shells bearing meaning. I scattered her ashes. She and I sang. We sat. I laid her down in the sea. My mom who in her physical life never learned to swim, began this new journey already knowing how to float. I never knew our ashes were so beautiful. After a while on a near dark moonless beach, I began to head home with no other bodies on the beach beside mine. I left the cross there that day. It had served its role. And she too laid hers down. It is a time of great celebration for this life, for all of us, and for this very moment.

To all of you reading this I offer a great moving love,
Katie

Imagine this:

You are standing in a field, a battle field to be frank. All around you is evidence of the war at hand.  It is a scene of destruction, yet to your credit you are still standing as a mighty warrior. Perhaps you are almost victorious.  But maybe not quite. You still feel the pending danger, the approach of the enemy. It never leaves-this feeling of looking out for the attack-watching vigilantly, sword in hand at the ready.  Even as the victor you still fear the attack. Is it truly a victory if this feeling still remains within?

Imagine having this awareness on your battlefield.  Now picture some part of your life where you experience a sense of battle. Where in your life do you keep your sword at the ready to protect and attack as necessary?  Where in your life are you at the ready, wielding your sword?  Is it with a partner, the driver in front of you, the person who makes more money or is happier than you?  It is with the 99 % or with the 1%  or is it at the elusive system?  Where do you wield your sword? Just note it.

Now back to that physical battlefield.  What if you were standing there with this “enemy” approaching whether it be a person or a situation and as it approached, you did the unthinkable.

You lower your raised arm and drop the sword letting it fall to the ground saying quietly to yourself,”I lay down my sword.  I lay down my sword.”

What would become of you?  

Who would you be without the warrior identity?  

What if you then having laid down your sword, you stood up with chest wide open, eyes closed and breath deeply centered in  your body.  What if even there was the gentlest of smiles upon your lips as if in releasing your sword, you were able to feel a freedom you had not felt before.

That’s just it.

As long as you are a warrior (even a victorious one) you are still in battle.  You live in a state of battle.  And battle is synonymous with conflict and contradictory forces. How can we move forward freely when living in a state of contradiction (see where I am going with this?)

But when we lay down our swords, even in the face of an attack or an approach, we are free.  We may be on the battle field, but some part of our being has “opted out” of the fight.  We are simply now being a witness.  Imagine a field of warriors who have all laid down their swords and instead of fighting are quietly present with a sense of love or perhaps compassion for the challenges around them. It is like seeing the big picture so that by giving up our small attack we end the WHOLE WAR for everyone.

By relinquishing our desire to fight our own mini war, we bring freedom to those around us and to the great world.  But, here is the the tricky part, we must start with ourselves.  Only when there is no fight within us and we wield no sword are we capable of making any difference in the greater world.

This is what I offer to you this week.  This idea of laying down the sword in your life, even in the smallest or in the most challenging places. I do not mean you don’t act with wisdom for your physical safety but where are you waging an emotional or intellectual war?

Where in your life do you feel you are carrying a sword? 

Begin to note all the moments in which  you can feel the weight of the sword in your hand.

A partner forgetting to follow through on some action, a friend who said something hurtful, a child that would not listen, a boss who is unreasonable, a bill you feel you cannot pay.  Whatever it is, what if you simply before taking action, lay down your sword and witness what is happening without preparing to fight it.

What would it be like if you were to lay down your sword and stand back up without it?

In this way, we begin to see what is really happening.  Our first response is not to wield the sword but to see what is before us. By seeing whatever it is without a weapon, we offer our undefended self.  We have only one choice and that is to see what is before us.

And it is in this seeing that we offer are actually offering love, simply by witnessing what is.

This week, may we together enjoy the practice of laying down our swords and being willing to stand tall breathing fully knowing that we are not in a battle within ourselves, with another or in the world.  This is how we come to feel the lightness within.

#206 Live life like a party

December 2, 2011

They’re getting their groove on in supermarket aisles in Pennsylvania, Kentucky, California, South Dakota, Québec, Maine, Missouri, Maine, Ontario, Illinois, Rhode Island, and New Mexico. They’re dancing with their shopping carts and with each other, as if they really “get” the film’s message to, “Live life like the party you’ve always wanted.”

When my friend, Joanne, posted the link to the video below, I watched it with a big grin on my face. I’d never heard of the Levity Institute, but who could resist checking out “a gathering place for those interested in living life with a deeper sense of well-being, lightheartedness and buoyancy in their everyday lives”?

Katie West writes she got the idea while riding a New York subway in 2009. She had a sudden, pervasive feeling of connection with both the misery behind the frowns around her and the contrasting lightness inside everyone. The Levity Institute was born.

Katie and her team offer classes, retreats, and salons – all based on buoyancy and lightheartedness and a pay-it-forward fee structure. Every now and then they throw out an idea and invite the world to play. The Grocery Store Dancing Micro-Movement below is the latest Levity Project.

Grocery stores are friendly territory for me, but most shopping makes me want to bolt for the door. The playfulness of the Levity Project gives me hope that maybe I can turn a grind into a grin. Anyone else want to play?

Find them on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.