A Human with More than Nine Lives

 

It’s not true you only live once. You only die once. You live lots of times if you know how.

- Bobby Darin 1967

photo: Knight Anole Shedding Ltshears

Falling

Practicing leaps and jumps and
making friends with the air

we had to practice landing.

When we really went gyroscopic in the air

we spent much time practicing falling.

Good lesson for living life.

Intimate Ally

Translated from English into English

The voraciousness of love
the fiesta, the fiasco

The audaciousness of
kindness, the soulfulness, the grin

The chagrin of thoughtlessness
the lost moment, the lost touch

The consciousness of the future
the hope, the help

- Intimate Ally
- by Lura Astor


Illustration: Hearterial Lura Astor

Form

a Tai Chi form can be created infinitely as long as the basics are upheld

Here We Go!

Here we go!

















Collage: Sphere of Influence Lura Astor 1996

Permission to Worry

Permission to Worry - a skit by Lura Astor based on a True Story

Lura: Permission to worry.

Other:  Really? Oh,

Lura:  Absolutely, as a matter of fact, you can worry as much as you want to and

Other:  Oh, see when people tell me not to worry then I do, just to

Lura:  Take as much time as you need. No pressure - uh, unless you want pressure. Worry as long as it takes

Other:  Can I put it off 'til tomorrow?

Lura:  Yes. You can even procrastinate.

Other: I multi-task

Lura: You can multi-task your worries and procrastinations, you can juggle a whole bunch of plates filled with procrastinations

Other:  Oh, thank you!I'm going off to worry now, I love you!

Lura:  Back atcha

-end-

Techqua Ikachi: Land - My Life 
cinematographer Jürg V. Walther, Anka Schmid

Quiet Treat

For friends imbibing in Silent Retreats, Heart Retreats,
daily walk re-treats

Paul Simon says it here in his Quiet

 











I am heading for a time of quiet
When my restlessness is past
And I can lie down on my blanket
And release my fists at last

I am heading for a time of solitude
Of peace without illusions
When the perfect circle
Marries all beginnings and conclusions

And when they say
That you're not good enough
Well the answer is
You're not
But who are they
Or what is it
That eats at what you've got
With the hunger of ambition
For the change inside the purse
They are handcuffs on the soul, my friends
Handcuffs on the soul
And worse

I am heading for a place of quiet
Where the sage and sweetgrass grow
By a lake of sacred water
From the mountain's melted snow
-Paul Simon

pastel: Berlin Pond Vermont   Deb Dwyer

photo: Forsythia   Deb Imershein

She Changed the Air When She Danced

Mary Hinkson

Judith Jamison in Cry 1976

 

 Isadora Duncan

Loie Fuller 1902

1983ish me with 50 yards of silk
I was lucky enough to dance Loie's and Isadora's dances

via historical reconstruction by Karoun Tootikian click here

Lucky enough to see Mary and Judith perform, and take classes from them. They had stature, baby.

It has taken me years of struggle, hard work, and research

to learn to make one simple gesture,

and I know enough about the art of writing

to realize that it would take as many years

of concentrated effort to write

one simple, beautiful sentence.  

~ Isadora Duncan

You were once wild here. Don’t let them tame you.

~ Isadora Duncan

Parfum Inconnu by Houbigant 1925

Did You Take That Picnic?

on a building rooftop

by some water
in a car
on a bike

at sunrise
in a garden
by a lake
or ocean's gate

share some food
with others
people, birds, lizards and clouds
yes, even the ants


Three Picnicking Bears: Rosa C. Petherick

Don't Let the Bahastahds Get Ya Down

love the song written by

Adrienne Shelly & Andrew Hollander

performed in vaudeville fashion

in a bittersweet, touching scene

in the quirky film I'll Take You There 1999

The Bastard Song
- Adrienne Shelly & Andrew Hollander

 

It's a world of suffering
In a sea of pain

No matter how much sun you bring
You're pummeled by the rain

So what's the use in getting up
And what's the use in tryin'?
And what's the use in listening
When everybody's lyin'?

Don't let the heartless get you down

Don't greet the heartless at your door

Don't live among the heartless

The life you lead just turns to shit

Your joy it falls to treason

There isn't any rhyme to it
There isn't any reason

Don't let the bastards get you down

Don't greet the bastards at your door

Don't live among the bastards

In this dead-end universe
Where there seems to be no grace
There are heavens on the map
There are humans in the race
There are people you can trust
When you need some decency
You can trust someone like you
You can trust someone like me

Don't let the strangers get you down

Don't greet the strangers at your door

Don't live among the strangers
My friend

Don't live among the strangers
The heartless
The bastards
My love...

A Day in Life in the World

I remember when Frank Zappa, The Mothers of Invention and crew brought 200 Motels to cinema, shot in videotape.

I remember when Jennifer Jason Leigh and Alan Cumming shot The Anniversary Party in  SONY DSR-500 digital video and we saw that technology on big screen. 

Now comes Ridley Scott's use of you-tube and people around our world sharing Life in a Day on the big screen.

Bloom Baby Bloom

Bloom the petal of peace from your own hot water

Burn, baby, Burn has new meaning
when dona nobis pacem begins at
home, your heart, your lungs, your soulfulness

Whether it's tee time or tea time

Steep and brew hear-t, lung, and soul petals in
the hot water of our making and

Let's make the world sing! not singe.

painting: Petals lastor

Meditation

Keep it Light!
 

 Meditation

Make sure you really need this
on top of the worries
you've already got.

- J.P. Donleavy

  The Unexpurgated Code: A Complete Manual of Survival and Manners

animation: lastor

Summer's Still Here = Spread Some Glitter

Wheeeeeeeeee

animation: lastor

Swim with the Lumberjack!

When Aerobics classes were new in the States, I received certifications but never enjoyed the choreography, pace or music. I observed bodies becoming boxier as the muscle training lacked lengthening and stretching. That came later.

As a lover of words, I love movement terms in different disciplines.

On that note, enjoy this!

Drive the weasels to Chester

Express through the Fingers

 

From the Tai Chi Classics

Strength is

rooted in the heels

developed in the thighs

controlled by the waist

and

expressed through the fingers

Montage: Hands of Light lastor

Breathe Beauty

breathe beauty in
breathe beauty out

create something new
for you
forever

breathe beauty out
breathe beauty in

and again

I Would Like This Guy as My Neighbor!

Pay attention to the fluidity of the knee joints.

Joint health is vital - it's in the Tai Chi warm up that I give you!

Kind of Kind

A friend from childhood recently went to a week-long silent retreat. She wrote to me:

Biggest take-home message: 

Be kind to yourself, no matter what.

And stay aware of, and relaxed in, your body.

Pastel: Wellfleet Farm Deb Dwyer

Worth the Time to Listen to this "Medicine"

3 items listed - take note

Stay Hungry - Stay Foolish

Keep your appetite for Life

Play

Play Workshops - coming soon

Meditation is Such a Funny Thing

More so than when I was growing up, there are now many "flavors" of meditation from which to choose, quite a variety from which to become confused.

The Basics are the Basics
As you deal with franchised templates, expert advice, iconic labeling, shoulds and daren'ts, remember this: Basics are Basics.

Regarding Meditation
I strongly believe in working with a person's temperament. Some people are much more energetic than others. Take into account interests, needs at that particular moment in life and desires. Yes, desires - for they will guide as a compass to your personal expressions.

Life Changes - We Change
What worked then, may not work now.

Different times in life require different tools. You don't carry all your tools around with you all the time - you use tools as required.

For people who are more active, meditation is completely different than for people less physically active.

Strongly intellectual people enter meditation differently than others.

Julia Roberts said of the book/film Eat, Pray, Love that it is important for people to take the time to find these things where you are for, not everyone can afford to travel, or take extended breaks.

Julia Cameron writes of taking Artist Dates, identify things near to your heart and chase them on a regular basis, scheduling the time.

My Tai Chi teacher used to call the practice of Tai Chi, Meditation in Action, and Yoga, Meditation in Repose. The idea is, with whichever practice/s you play with - take it into daily life.

The book Chop Wood, Carry Water: A Guide to Finding Spiritual Fulfillment in Every Day Life brought this to people's attention in the mid-1970's and we now have a vast library available to dip into for inspiration.

My yoga teacher insisted, you already know. We each have within us the guidance, the knowing, the teaching. A challenging pill to swallow at any age, but especially when young!

Dream teachers help us unravel our own living and dreaming symbols.
You Be the Guide

Shop around. Feel what is right for you, at the particular time. Commit. Show up. Enjoy.

In my teaching, I synthesize and integrate the various tools to meet individual and group needs.


Photo: Hand of Life Lura Astor

* Pina Bausch * Wim Wenders *

PINA (3D) : BANDE-ANNONCE by baryla

A Century - in Earth Years - not on the Bike!

When my namesake turned 100 I was fortunate to have time to spend with her beyond the family reunion. While her present day memory gave her hiccups, she was lucid clear in memories of long ago, shared as stories.

Ever since I was a kid, elders fascinate me. As a young healer I sought them out.

When 17, the film maker in our dance/theater troupe brought back black and white photographs of the elders on Greek islands and the folds on face and hands revealed so much.

No matter the nationality or practice, the truth in healing remains the same.

Here Susun Weed mentions meeting with elders when in her 20's to gain from their wisdom. In this segment, she states that they universally mention the Live-r. Listen here.

I love how interviewee Thea Summer Deer mentions how all is in Relationship when dealing with healing; micro- and macro-. Human longing for connection, includes connection with Nature. By reconnecting with our bodies, we reconnect with Nature.

Our Vision is clouded when our livers are stagnant, affecting eyes, hormones, allergies, headaches, and much more.

Recipe
One yogi friend drinks a daily liver drink, blending water, olive oil, lemon juice and green = parsley and/or arugula.

Those familiar with my Stretch classes know the Tai Chi Chuan movement for massaging the internal organs in the early warm-up. The interview connects Chi with liver function.

Fail Better

Joseph Fiennes said:

It's a mercurial world of alchemy

Who has gone through their lives without those ups and downs, whether they are a journalist or an actor or a painter or an accountant? There are always going to be times when it doesn't flow as much as you were hoping. So of course I'm going to fail. And when I do fail I hope I fail better and better, again and again. I am happy to fail.

Photo: you may know Joseph Fiennes from Shakespeare in Love among other work, including a great small role in Stealing Beauty with funny "actor business" in his bits.

Sitting Pose - a Variation

Here is
Meditation in Repose
Very quiet
Attentive for a long time






photo: Angelics Lura Astor

Incense - Transformative Art

Gifted incense maker Nathaniel Musselman has unique offerings on his Etsy site at incredible prices.

Click here

I've tried many of these and can't wait to share them in my workshops.

Part of my need in an incense is the ability to breathe well within the smoke, especially in a space practicing deep breathing, yoga, Tai Chi, meditations, breath work, etc.

Musselman's work is superbly well-balanced, the odors divine - no cloying here; with deft touch, the burn is excellent - smoke spirals.

Knowing that traditionally, many medicines can be inhaled via smoke, I approach incense choices with these things in mind: Scent wise - do I enjoy the odor? Physically - can I inhale it easily in the air space? As a spiritual transportive, a room "freshener" or "cleanser" and, of course, for Fun.

Nathaniel Musselman has whimsy, deep craft and a studious nature that serve us well in his gifts to us in the form of these beauties. Transformative art ... poetic smoke.

photo: Nathaniel's Incense Lura Astor

Happy. Happy? Try This

 












Do you find this to be true?

Studies show that each
happy person
you know

increases your chances

of being happy

by
9 percent.
 
Can't remember where this quote is from, so I can't credit the source.

The Price

A word association

for what is going on

in some places of the world

in some places in some people

Here click-play this music while imbibing

(song: The Price Brian Adler Music, Violin: Jerry Goodman)

Melee

confusion, trumoil, jumble

a confused fight, mixture, mix and mingle

medley - hand to hand combat, combination, mixture, musical mixture of diverse parts
meddle ( do or don’t meddle with us)
melody    mellow day
mesler Old French
don’ mess with me
jumble jumbalaya
here’s sand in your eyes

Melee - a group of diamonds each weighing under ¼ carat

There are meditations call Diamond Consciousness - to refine the many facets of your shining being

peace out - lastor

mixed media: Your Sphere of Influence: lastor

Show UP

Even when you don't feel like it

even if you don't wanna

Bring Your Self

Once you make the commitment - show up and shut up and open up

Shut up in the sense of close the whining, critical, projecting parts

Open up in the sense of - you decided this (class, workshop, homework, etc.) is for you

Now receive the tid-bits, gems, treasures, hard-to-hear-but-necessary, aspects which is why you are here!

I have a dream that I enter a space pre-workshop, my early life in performance has me still showing up early, giving time for my own preparations. 

This is a small classroom with utilitarian grey carpeting, functional, not as some of the beautiful, huge spaces where I've presented workshops and performances. A man, the presenter, (my animus) opens the door, not apologetic (for this space), we both understand we are in the magical preparation minutes that attends the Begin.

I flash on a real life performance at a major University years ago. Due to whatever glitches, there is no audience (I'm laughing as I write this). We went on as scheduled, a large performing group, and in the middle of this performance we are laughing - this is a performance, this is not a rehearsal, we are dancing, performing, theatricalizing, for others even if they may not be there. We are high on this expression. It was great, a solid lesson learned young, satisfying, revitalizing. We took over the space and encompassed the life of the performance.

On micro- and macro- levels traversing the worlds of our lives - bring yourself to it.

Oh, and, thank you for being in my life!

photos: scratched proof of Lura 1978 Jim Polaski/Chicago

Double Rainbow lastor

Happy Chinese New Year

Hold the Universe in Your Arms

Hey Students - Remember Your Horse Stance!

Sketch: lastor

Photo: HORSE STANCE, Lura's Tai Chi Chuan Class, Las Vegas, NV 1983ish

Ka Chi!

Chi, Qi, Ka, Ahhh

meridian lines

acupuncture points

acupressure points

The earth has ley lines

The galaxy has homeostasis

The good thing about Healing - when you're about to give up, folks, is this - if you are willing (no matter how much resistance, fear, inner/outer criticisms may show up) to meet the healing, the spark of healing will send the body to homeostasis. Always. We always reach for homeostasis, the balancing and re-booting of a system towards health and balance.

To re-boot our system, we need to get to a deep relaxation, then the neurological, bio-chemical, electro-magnetic systems synapse for homeostasis.

This is what gives me faith in even the most dire healing circumstances I've met.

Balance is a continually changing energy.

Enjoy!

Remember: it is a life-death-life continuum

a life-letting go-rebirth continuum

Here's a nice article from Robert Moss on our Inner Winds click here

photo: Moon Mask & Treasure Box Series: lastor

Courage CouerAge Heart Strength

I think my wish for each and every one of us for 2011 is Courage.

Courage to be who you are
Courage to speak with your voice
Courage to be kind
Courage to share love
Courage to be brave
Courage to embrace your vulnerability
Courage to show your strengths with grace
Courage to heal
Courage to release pain and put a better dream in its place
Courage to take time for yourself
Courage to find new music, new places, new friends, new foods, new books, new art
Courage to have fun!

Do some heart exercises - I can show you how

Heart Harp: lastor

Lura Quotes Los Angeles Times 15 March 2005

Rene Lynch quotes Lura Astor
At the time, I was teaching at Equinox Fitness Center, Caltech and other workshop sites, out of Pasadena, CA

... adopting a more laid-back approach to fitness may get you closer to your goal by encouraging consistency. Some people can't face the thought of a long, hard aerobics class after a long, hard day at work, so they skip their workout entirely. A kinder, gentler class can be an attractive lure.


That's a philosophy embraced by Lura Astor, who teaches a twice-weekly class at Equinox Fitness club in Pasadena called "Simply Stretch." It draws on a mix of Tai Chi, yoga, core body work and what she calls "body re-education movements" designed to counteract hours spent hunched over a keyboard or gripping a steering wheel.

"People think, 'If I'm going to go to the gym I need to be running, running, running; lifting, lifting; and burning calories,' " said Astor, who believes that attitude is misguided. Taking time out to gently tend to a body that has been over- or under-worked or is just plain tired is time well spent, she said. "I tell students that you have to create a balance."

Students say they walk out of her class standing taller and feeling relaxed. "I feel really great afterward," said student Tania Nasir, who has been taking Astor's class for about two months to help nurse a back injury. "I sense a difference in my posture, and my abs really feel it too. So you are working out."

High-end clubs like Crunch and Equinox aren't the only ones catering to this growing demand for alternative exercise options.

slideshow: Moon Dreams lastor

Earth Throbs

The word sidereal hit the news this week.

The word derives from Latin:
a star, a constellation.

Here, from a chapter from Lyall Watson's 1939-2008 wonderful book, The Dreams of Dragons: Riddles of Natural History 1987







The Arteries of Earth

Precisely every 12 sidereal hours - that is, hours set relative to the earth's movement through the galaxy, and not about its own axis - the earth throbs.

The cause remains mysterious - it may be something to do with lunar and solar tides - but the effect is clear. The pulse of our planet beats regularly, once every 11 hours, 57 minutes, and 57.3 seconds, earth time. And its effect can be felt more strongly in Rome than in Geneva.

Is this ch'i, bubbling up through cracks in the planet? Probably not. But it is evidence at least of the existence of a global rhythm that has local peculiarities.
....Gravitational anomalies produced by the variable thickness of earth’s crust mean that there are differences of as much as 100 meters in the mean level at various places. There is a trough, almost a hole, south of India and another great dent in the area that has come to be known as the Bermuda Triangle. And there are equally permanent hills around Iceland and Hawaii, and in the Sea of Japan.



An awareness of natural rhythm is .... part of our birthright. A gift from Mother. With one ear to the ground, you can almost hear her great heart beating. It is a very comforting sound.


photos: Lura Astor helping bring Tai Chi Chuan to Las Vegas 1980s one breath at a time

courtesy of: Tai Chi Chuan Club

Yoga and Wine

Living in Wine Country 

QUESTION: What does a yoga practitioner and a bottle of wine have in common? They both Breathe.
 
Research confirms that drinking
gives same benefits as yoga !


Savasana
Position of total relaxation
Also called the corpse pose

Balasana
Position that brings the sensation of peace and calm










 

Setu Bandha Sarvangasana
This position calms the brain and heals tired legs

Marjayasana
Stimulates the midriff area and the spinal column

Halasana
Excellent for back pain and insomnia

Salambhasana
Great exercise to stimulate the lumbar area, legs, and arms


Dolphin
Excellent for the shoulder area, thorax, legs, and arms


Ananda Balasana
This position is great for massaging the hip area

Malasana
This position is for ankles and back muscles



Teacher's Disclaimer: anyone who knows me knows that I get high on life, body work, teaching, laughter and the study of smells. In the above photographic depictions, I recommend the non-abusive way to enLIGHTening your body-mind-spirit-emotions ... if you have any genetic predispositions towards alcoholism ... stay away from the bottle. And, while you can drive after yoga, have someone else drive after you've been imbibing. Also, there are more homeless than ever, so help out in your community. 

photos: I don't yet know who to credit