Little things?

Marko took this picture at Omega Institute.





Sometimes when I consider what tremendous consequences come from little things
-- a chance word, a tap on the shoulder, or a penny dropped on a newsstand
-- I am tempted to think...there are no little things.
--Bruce Barton

Inspriation

above are more pictures by Macy that she took at Omega Institute. These inspire me to keep on my path of practicing mindfulness. hope you are having a great day...and I hope you enjoy the quote below. Namaste, Michele




"When you feel inspired, more than ordinary thinking is involved. There is a sense of being uplifted, of suddenly breaking through. Old boundaries fall away, and one feels, if only for a moment, a rush of liberation" ~Deepak Chopra

coming home to ourselves

do you like this picture? Macy made this and then took a picture of it.
Macy made my day today....she came home from middle school and said her and her friends went and ate with this boy who was eating lunch all by himself.
She said they talked to him and he seemed happier.
He said he really did not like school much.
I find myself really missing the meditation time at Omega Institute.
I have been scheduling times to meditate daily at home...but it is hard getting a whole hour to devote to this.
I just take what times I have to meditate...to just be here.
that is what calms me down and helps me to let go of things that I can't control.
....well a lot of the time anyway.
hope you like the quote below!!
Namaste,
Michele

Anyone can build a house of wood and bricks, but....that sort of home is not our real home; it's only nominally ours. It's a home in the world, and it follows the ways of the world. Our real home is inner peace. An external, material home may well be pretty, but it is not very peaceful. There's this worry, and then that; this anxiety, and then that.....It's external to us and soon or later we'll have to give it up. It's not a place we can live in permanently, because it doesn't truly belong to us; it's part of the world. Our body is the same: we take it to be self, to be "me" and "mine," but in fact it's not really so at all; it's another worldly home.
-Ajahn Chah

Letting Go

Bud Preston's website: click here
Hello!!
Above is a picture from Mira and Marko's guitar lesson yesterday evening.
They both started lessons this summer.
I was so crushed when Mira wanted to quit playing her violin.
She had played the violin for the last 5 years and I enjoyed hearing her play.
However, she was tired of orchestra, tired of the rules and tired of not playing modern songs.
I tried to convince her to stay in it for high school, but then I realized it is not about me.
(hard for me to do.....because I wanted her to be a violin player...I had plans that she would travel with the Medina Orchestra to Russia during high school and that I would go to her concerts throughout her four years at the high school......but it is not my life....and she must follow her own passions....not mine)
so guess why she quit......because she wanted to learn how to play the guitar.
so now Mira and Marko take guitar lessons together.
Mira plays Mark's guitar.....and Marko plays his new "Gibson."

Below are words from Pema Chodron.
She offered these five pieces advice at a retreat this year.
I found them very fitting......have been going through some major stressors lately....those of you who know me well know that.
I have been practicing on learning to "let go."
at times it works really well and at other times I am filled with a lot of anger and feelings of being betrayed.
Last week at Omega Institute, I meditated each morning for an hour and each evening for an hour. which consisted of sitting on these cushions with our legs crossed in total silence...just keeping your mind blank, then at the end the instructor would lead us through a "loving-kindness" meditation where you send love to yourself, love to a teacher in your life, love to someone close, love to someone you have issues with, and you keep stretching it until you are sending love from you heart to every living entity on the planet.
On the last day of meditation, the meditation leader, gave me this piece of paper and told me that it was a gift from her to me.
did you ever notice how the words from someone can be exactly what you needed to hear?
It is really weird....well not really....(truth is something you stumble into when you think you are going someplace else-Jerry Garcia)
but it was like it was really written for me.
so now I will share it with you...read below and have a great day!!!
Namaste,
Michele


At the close of the rainy season retreat at Gampo Abbey this year, Pema Chodron offered these five pieces of advice.

1. The mundane details of our life eat us up. Therefore it is important to keep asking
ourselves again and again: What is the most important thing? Since death is certain and the time of death is uncertain, what is the most important thing? Let that perspective be your guide.

2. Don't be afraid to challenge yourself. At the gut level, you might want to go for the most comfortable thing. Always go for the stretch. Sometimes the stretch is to stay,
sometimes to go. Sometimes to say, Yes, sometimes to say, No. You don't always know. The key is to be willing to go through the shedding and unmasking process.

3. Rest in the insecurity.
Remember that when we lose ground we habitually panic and look for something solid to
hold onto: that's a description of samsara. Go at your pace. And don't push it.
But continue to train in resting and with insecurity.

4. Don't believe everything you think. If you can follow this advice, you will be in good shape.

5. Take exactly what appears as your path.

this last one means, wherever we are, this is our awakening, our sacred space. Listening deeply, we open the doors of our true nature, which is called Buddha nature or God nature
or Allah or the Tao. The mind is clear and bright. Compassion arises. We find our way.

OM!

This is Mira at AGT during family week at Omega Institute.
She was Aries.
check out this link below about the adventure game theater:
http://www.pbs.org/bodyandsoul/217/game.htm
Being at Omega is a magical place.
It gave me time to get outside of my head and into my heart.
I have been working on my poor posture through the yoga exercises.
I feel my heart opening instead of carrying the weight of the world on my shoulders.
It is scary
......finding that maybe I can't work in the job I have been
working...because of the politics of working there...I love the patients that
come through and being there to watch them grow.....and I am starting
to see things in my life that are a big waste of time like seeing the way I
waste my time online. but it is all growth and sometimes growth is
not quite comfortable.
I do know that I am feeling things more and am more awake to the moment....more alive
Maybe I am feeling at a deeper level because of all the meditation I have been doing.
I meditated every morning at 7am for an hour at Omega plus all of the yoga and just all the time to just be.
I feel better when I just fall into that emptiness.
I am embracing the change that is happening.
Love,
Michele

http://tinyurl.com/3yt33v
"Scientists have evidence that Buddhists really are happier and calmer
than other people. Tests on their brains show that the parts associated
with good moods and positive feelings are more active, because of all the
meditation they do. Researchers say that the type of meditation done by
Buddhists can change the amygdala, an area of the brain which controls
fear memory, which is why Buddhists are less likely to be as shocked,
surprised or angry as other people. Reseacher Paul Ekman says, "The
most reasonable hypothesis is that there is something about
conscientious Buddhist practice that results in the kind of happiness we
all seek."

Jerry Lives!

Jerry Garcia really lives!!! He has been sighted here at Omega Institute.
I saw him tonight at a Native American ceremony which took place to bless the children.
Here is a picture of Jerry and I by the Native American peace pipe.
"Sometimes you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right."
Namaste,
Michele

Omega or bust

Family Week has been a great success at Omega because it offers families something rare: a unique balance of time together and time apart so that everyone can have fun, learn, explore, and make new friends. We invite veteran Family Weekers back to continue in the creation of an extended family, and welcome new families to join us.

Special Guests: We welcome renowned singer-songwriters David Wilcox and Nance Pettit as resident bards and practitioners of musical medicine for the week.

Program Structure: Workshops and kids camps meet each morning (9 a.m.-noon) and Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday afternoons (2:30 p.m.-5 p.m.). Tuesday afternoon the faculty offer family activities: a softball game, wilderness romps, music-making, and sampler workshops. In the evenings we gather for performances, games, and a campfire.


Family Week Workshops for Adults:

my class:
Shakti Yoga: Awakening Vitality & Creativity
Linda Lalita Winnick

Mark's class:
The Transcendent Power of Drumming
Steve Leicach

The Dance of Tennis
Jena Marcovicci

The Joy of Play: It's Never Too Late to Have a Happy Childhood
Joe Killian

Being With Flowers: Floral Art As Spiritual Practice
Anthony Ward

Gospel Music Community
Sister Alice Martin

Experiencing Life As Living Ceremony
Carl Big Heart

Family Week Kids and Teen Camps:

The Magic of Art & the Art of Magic: For kids ages 8-12
Janet Fredericks, Tom Verner

Macy's class:
Photography Camp: For kids ages 8-13
Amy Berkson, Todd Shapera

Beyond Basketball for Kids: For kids ages 8-12
Kevin Heath, Ellen Riley

Mira's class:
Adventure Game Theater: For teens ages 12-17
Adventure Game Theater Staff

Marko's class:
Little Forest People: For kids ages 6-10
Ranger Jay Cook, Ranger Veronica Sampson, Ranger Woody Watson

Omega

"Omega gives a glimpse of what a community could be. It is a human-sized place that provides autonomy, diversity, and safety. People stop hurrying and talk to one another. They look at the stars and listen to the wind in the trees."
—Mary Pipher, author, Reviving Ophelia

Below is a link for a slide show of the Omega Institute.
Our family vacations there every year and it is a magical place where we all slow down, connect with nature and put away our "technology."
http://www.eomega.org/omega/retreats/dstyjdstyjes/Slideshow/
you can order a catalog from the institute online also.

See the Magic????

I love this quote by Houdini: "I sometimes feel that when I am all wrapped up with ropes, chains and locks and escape from my impossible situation, I think that I sometimes inspire hope in people that they too can escape from their impossible situation."




This is a picture of our friend, Tom Verner. He and his wife, Janet Fredericks, perform as Magicians Without Borders at refugee camps, orphanages, schools and hospitals worldwide. They travel up to six months each year, have performed in Europe (in Bosnia, Croatia, Macedonia, Serbia and Ukraine, as well as for Pope John Paul II at the Vatican), Africa (Ethiopia, Sudan and Uganda), Asia (Bangladesh, Burma, India and Thailand) and the Americas (El Salvador, Haiti and the southern United States hit by Hurricane Katrina).

They are amazing, gifted and two of the most giving people I have ever met.
They love kids. Mira and Macy took a week long magic class with them this summer at Omega Institute in NewYork.
They still keep in touch with us. They wrote our girls a beautiful letter a few weeks ago.
We plan to see them again this summer at Omega.

Here is their website: Just click : Tom and Janet

If you are looking for a worthwhile cause to make a donation this would be one...just click on the words "join us" on the top part of their website!!

Below is a beautiful article about them.
I am telling you that they are beautiful people!!! and below that a description of the class they taught at Omega Institute this summer.
Read below.

Article published Jul 30, 2006
Pulling hope out of a hat
Vt. couple conjures up a better world as Magicians Without Borders

Vermont magician Tom Verner can't speak the native tongue of Shutka, Macedonia. But when a poor woman there handed him a 5-denar coin, he knew exactly what she wanted.

Five years ago, Verner was set to fly to Eastern Europe when he stumbled across a news report about refugees fleeing the war-torn province of Kosovo. Concerned and curious, the 60-year-old Lincoln resident decided to see for himself.

"I had heard so much about how terrible these people's lives were," he recalls. "They literally got their houses out of a garbage dump."

That's why the woman, pressing the coin in Verner's palm, gestured for him to make more. And so he closed his hand, then opened it to reveal a 50-denar piece that multiplied her money tenfold.

Her smile said everything she couldn't.

Returning to Vermont, Verner was inspired to set up Magicians Without Borders, a nonprofit organization to serve refugee camps, orphanages, schools and hospitals worldwide.

He and his wife Janet Fredericks, traveling up to six months each year, have since performed in Europe (in Bosnia, Croatia, Macedonia, Serbia and Ukraine, as well as for Pope John Paul II at the Vatican), Africa (Ethiopia, Sudan and Uganda), Asia (Bangladesh, Burma, India and Thailand) and the Americas (El Salvador, Haiti and the southern United States hit by Hurricane Katrina).

Seen-it-all skeptics may view their work as simple sleight of hand. But for people who've sat years in the same squalid, stagnant place, it sparks laughter, surprise and escape.

"People don't know there are 20 million refugees in the world and they live in camps for decades," Verner says. "Magic can awaken hopes and dreams. Magic makes the impossible seem possible."



Spirit of Houdini



Verner grew up a nomad himself. Born in an Irish Catholic coal-mining town in Pennsylvania, he left home at age 13 to live in a monastery in upstate New York. At 20, he joined the Peace Corps to teach English in Iran. At 22, he returned to the United States to study clinical psychology and work at an alcohol and drug treatment center in Hartford, Conn.

One addict there always had something up his sleeve.

"He was an incredible magician," Verner recalls. "I begged him for months to teach me something."

Finally, the addict showed him the French Drop.

"Take a coin and put it in your hand," Verner demonstrates, "and then you just wave it and make it vanish."

Verner built up his bag of tricks — actually his brother's old suitcase — as he moved to Vermont to become a psychology professor at Burlington College in 1979. But he didn't start his humanitarian work until his trip to Eastern Europe in the fall of 2001.

Verner, with help from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, performed 15 shows for more than 2,000 refugees in Kosovo and Macedonia. At the first stop, a 5-year-old girl named Fatima volunteered to assist. She was a standout. Then, just before Verner had to depart, she disappeared.

The magician found her hiding in the back of his car.

Verner was reminded of another refugee, Harry Houdini, who once wrote in his journal: "I sometimes feel that when I am all wrapped up with ropes, chains and locks and escape from my impossible situation, I think that I sometimes inspire hope in people that they too can escape from their impossible situation."

Returning to Vermont, Verner capped the academic year by winning his college's distinguished faculty award. His mind, however, was a world away. He decided to take a leave from full-time teaching and form the magician's equivalent of Doctors Without Borders, the world health care organization that won the 1999 Nobel Peace Prize.



Trick or treat?



Verner credits the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees for help with scheduling, lodging, local transportation and translation. The Geneva-based agency publicizes Magicians Without Borders on its Web site, www.unhcr.org.

Verner also finds assistance closer to home. Performing in Eastern Europe, he discovered he needed someone to distract his audience while he was setting up. Soon his wife — a visual artist and fellow Burlington College faculty member — pinned a sunflower on a derby hat and proclaimed herself the mime-clown "La Fleur."

Refugees in robes, rags or saris now stare as Fredericks blows soap bubbles — for many, magic in itself — before her husband (the very tall, very white, very bearded man) opens his suitcase of silk scarves, sponge balls and steel rings.

Every stop has a story. Take India, the first place Verner visited after organizing Magicians Without Borders. The country conjures up visions of Buddha, Hindu gods and snake charmers in the street. But Verner knows its flipside: His adopted daughter, Mira, lived in an orphanage there until age 1.

In 2003, father and grown daughter flew to her birthplace to perform. Returning with Fredericks in 2004, Verner entertained children at Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity and young people rescued from the sex trade. That Thanksgiving they visited India's largest home for mentally ill youth, even though its director voiced reluctance.

"I don't think the children will understand," Verner remembers her saying.

Then she saw the show.

"When can you come back?" she asked.

Others, however, equate magic with witchcraft. Some in the Sudan People's Liberation Army thought such trickery caused a helicopter crash that killed the country's vice president a year ago this month.

"We sometimes have to explain a few of the tricks to the elders, in Africa particularly, so they know it's just a trick," Fredericks says.

"And Janet goes out and gets them laughing so the magic is done in an atmosphere of levity and fun," Verner adds.



Magic as metaphor



The couple also adjusts its act to the local culture. In Burma after the 2004 tsunami, Verner learned not to place his hand atop a child's head (it's considered rude). In Bangladesh, Fredericks traded her skirt for Charlie Chaplin pants so as not to offend Muslims who expect women to cover themselves in public.

The two try to learn a few words in each country's language, but leave their official communication to local translators. Although most of his tricks are seen rather than heard, Verner often ends his performances pointing to an interpreter and a 2-foot-long strip of paper.

"Imagine this is your life," the magician will say. "It is a whole life, a good life. And then war comes, famine comes."

He'll grab the paper with both hands.

"And you lose your friends."

He'll rip off a piece.

"You lose your work."

He'll rip off another.

"You lose your family, you lose your home and finally you lose your homeland and have to flee to another country as a refugee. And then you lose years and years and years living in a refugee camp."

By now that 2-foot-long strip is history.

"But, with hope, imagination and courage your life will come back together again because your suffering is like bread and if you eat the bread of your suffering …"

He swallows the scrap paper, piece by piece.

"You will become even stronger. And when your life comes back together, you will not only be whole and home again, but even more beautiful, like this."

With that, Verner pulls a 45-foot-long ribbon of rainbow colors from his mouth. Then the real transformation begins.

"This is wonderful," one Somali woman exiled 15 years told a U.N. reporter. "It means even our terribly tattered life will be mended one day. It means going back home is not a complete impossibility."

Verner hopes others see magic as a metaphor.

"Magic," he says, "is really about what is lost is found, what is destroyed is healed."



Papal performance



Verner and Fredericks travel during the fall, winter and spring before monsoons swamp much of the world. The two then summer in Vermont, where they tend flower and vegetable gardens and reap some green performing at area hotels and festivals.

"It's a time to make pay while the sun shines," Verner says.

The two volunteer their time to Magicians Without Borders and raise money for their plane tickets. To do so, they accept invitations to speak to community and church groups, where they mix magic with slides and stories about the world's refugees.

Remember the woman who watched Verner upgrade her spare change? Afterward, two men approached him with their own request: Visas to America, please.

"I laughed," he recalls. "But they were serious."

Too many others have similar appeals. Can you stop this injustice? Can you heal this illness?

"There are some heartbreaking stories," Fredericks says.

The two Vermonters could easily drown in thoughts of what they can't do. Instead, they dive into what they can.

"People are so touched that we're two Americans coming from a very wealthy country to give them a free show," Fredericks says. "It's much more than entertainment. We call it citizen diplomacy. Just the smiles on those children's faces — there's a real heart connection that happens. And that you can't quantify."

Verner and Fredericks are planning to perform in El Salvador this fall and then perhaps fly to China to entertain girls orphaned by the country's one-child policy. The two have their act down pat. But offstage, they never know what will pop up next.

Take the request they received two years ago to meet Pope John Paul II at the Vatican. The late pontiff, frail from Parkinson's disease but a circus fan since childhood, had invited performers to an International Congress for the Pastoral Care of Circus and Traveling Show People.

The pope wore white robes. Verner wore a black suit. Fredericks wore her red-striped clown costume.

"When he came in, Janet blew bubbles all over him," Verner recalls.

His smile said everything he couldn't.

Contact Kevin O'Connor at kevin.oconnor@rutlandherald.com.

Tom and Janet's Class

Janet Fredericks is a warm and experienced teacher, painter, clown, mime, and artist, who teaches the magic of art to children and adults in Vermont. Janet's husband is Tom Verner, a magician, poet, professor, and therapist. Together they founded Magicians Without Borders, and have traveled to refugee camps around the world to perform their magic and clown shows.

Amazing things happen when we combine arts, crafts, and the ancient art of magic during Family Week at Omega. Make an acorn appear, multiply it, and before you make it disappear, make it appear in your sketchbook through the magic of art. Paint, draw, do all sorts of art projects, and learn how to create props that you can use in your very own magic performance. By the end of the week, you have a book of drawings, paintings, and other creative work, and have learned enough magic to put on a small show for your friends and family back home. No art or magic experience required!

Can human beings and the fish coexist peacefully???

Did George really vacation at Omega Institute???
My cousin Krissy sent this picture.
Click below on mr. president if you would like to see more pictures.
Dear Mr. President
or the live version is right here. Live version

The bigger news is, according to a new AP poll, George Bush is a bigger villain to Americans than Osama bin Laden -- or Satan! Check out this report on MSNBC's Scarsborough Country (and the host a former Republican't congressman!!!!!)