Through  The  Dark  Night

Don Hynes

The valley lays in darkness,

the earth pulsing

with great mystery.

Trees vibrate in this pulse

as do the widespread seas.

Deserts shift in waves,

animals move in migration.

On the outer rim

the earth turns quickly

while at the center

there is stillness

and a silence

reaching through stone,

sand and water.

We may be spun by the wheel

or return to the core,

to the place of emanation

where life is born.

The forces move in procession,

water, air, earth and fire,

cleansing what must pass,

giving form to what is asked

from the deep heaven.

What may we bring to this altar

but our breath of thankfulness,

alive and enduring

through the dark night

to the living day.

donhynes.com/blog

The  Light  Between

Jack Jenkins

“The Light Between” is an artistic collaboration intended to direct the listener and viewer’s attention to that which is “between,” whether that is space, light or silence. All of the dimensional reality that we experience through our sensibilities is set in a context, a very large one in fact. Anyone who has had to move from where they were living is confronted with all the stuff that they have managed to collect and cram into that space. It seems that human beings think that the only reason for this space, this context, is to fill it up. I suppose we eventually succeed in that when we have completely obliterated the light, and we’re dead!

What each of us as artists has tried to do through the form of thought, music and image is to point to the greater context within which those forms find their true meaning. You could describe that context as un-dimensional or invisible. That which is “between” actually is what connects. It connects everything. It is what allows us to experience the oneness of it all.

These three friends I have known for a long time and we all share this sensibility to what really has true meaning. I thank them for their generosity and immediate willingness to participate in this project. I think Chris Harris was born with a camera in his hand. He has shown me areas of the Cariboo/Chilcotin region of BC by backcountry skiing and canoeing trips that I otherwise would have never seen. I’ve performed with Maryliz Smith since we were hippies with long hair. She lives in San Francisco so our collaboration was all “virtual.” She is a dear friend. I met Janet Barocco many years ago, although briefly, but we do have a common connection—her husband Richard Heinberg. Richard plays the violin and we played for several years together before he and Janet met. I originally scored Janet’s poem for a women’s chorus and have just recently transcribed it for cello and piano. Enjoy!

Jack Jenkins — sepabay@shaw.ca

all  in  silence

all is still in thy great womb

where rhythmic power gathers

and

in perfect measure

finds release

in the temple of thy body

in the cathedral of thy world

and all is still in thy great womb

where now

a thunderous presence

all in silence

plants the seed of life

in this

the holy place of magic

a lightning shaft of power

ignites the world in love

and all’s made new

in awesome silence

db

Missa  Gaia

Earth  Mass

Paul Winter Consort

Cathedral  of  St.  John  the  Divine

A Mass in celebration of Mother Earth, recorded live in the Cathedral of St. John the Divine and the Grand Canyon. Integrating world music with songs from the wild to celebrate the whole earth as a sacred space, the MISSA GAIA is performed annually on the first Sunday in October in the Cathedral of St John the Divine in New York. It was commissioned by the Dean of the Cathedral as a contemporary ecumencial Mass.

Recorded in the Grand Canyon and during two performances in the Cathedral, the album of this popular contemporary Mass for the Earth features the Paul Winter Consort, Susan Osborn, the voices of wolf, whale, eagle, harp seal, Amazonian musical wren, Russian loon, and the choruses of the Cathedral.

Produced by: Paul Winter, Oscar Castro-Neves, Chris Brown

Paul Winter - soprano sax

Nancy Rumbel - oboe and English horn

Eugene Friesen - cello

Jim Scott - classical and 12-string guitar

Susan Osborn - voice

Paul Halley - organ and piano

Ted Moore - percussion

Gordon Johnson - bass

Jim Saporito - percussion

Guilherme Franco - percussion

Phil Markowitz - piano on 'Beatitudes'

1982

www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYGTZp-tqLo

This  is  the  Winter  Solstice  of  an  Age

 

The  grim  news

The grim news has come to my attention

that something in the world has come unfixed —

owls no longer haunt the fir-lined alley

appearing out of dreamtime as we pass,

indeed, whole souls are missing, as if being

has itself gone dim — like an old man's seeing.

A vital light is missing from this world, by which I mean

that ephemeral gold that spins the seen

and unseen worlds together. In my life

I don't expect to see a springtime swelling

of the shriveled nut so many human spirits

have become. What's to be done?

This is the winter solstice of an age,

although the season's worst is yet to come.

What's delicate and true has come undone:

is the only fitting answer

a pure and focused rage?

Today I wove a wreath of bone and fir

and filbert withes; twined in sacred holly,

incense cedar from an ancient tree.

I wove, affixed a star, and spoke a spell:

"Let this circle stand as the gate of winter-

sure passage to the days of lengthening light."

And then I whispered names in the fragrant bough

Lacing love like a scarlet ribbon through the fronds.

Long I wove and dreamed back friends and kin,

each great soul calling back the sun.

I thought at last, "My life here is not done."

and some bright star rekindled from within.

Sandra Brown

The Noon Club

 Something  Wonderful  Is  Happening

The  Noon  Club

Will Wilkinson

www.noonclub.org

Breath

James Nestor

James Nestor has written for Outside, Scientific American, The Atlantic, Dwell, The New York Times, and many other publications. His book Deep: Freediving, Renegade Science, and What the Ocean Tells Us About Ourselves was a finalist for the 2015 PEN/ESPN Award for Literary Sports Writing, an Amazon Best Science Book of 2014, and more. Nestor has appeared on dozens of national television shows, including ABC’s Nightline and CBS’s Morning News, and on NPR. He lives and breathes in San Francisco.

Riverhead Books 052620

A New York Times Bestseller

A Washington Post Notable Nonfiction Book of 2020

A Goodreads Award Finalist for Best Science & Technology Book of the Year

"A fascinating book, full of dazzling revelations." — Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 

"This book is awesome. Most people have no idea how to do breathing exercises and how beneficial they are. Over the last few weeks I’ve been using the methods I learned from his book and I can tell you there are absolutely some real benefits to be had from this. . .I really enjoyed this book."  — Joe Rogan

"I highly recommend this book." — Wim Hof

"A fascinating scientific, cultural, spiritual and evolutionary history of the way humans breathe—and how we’ve all been doing it wrong for a long, long time. I already feel calmer and healthier just in the last few days, from making a few simple changes in my breathing, based on what I’ve read. . . . Our breath is a beautiful, healing, mysterious gift, and so is this book." — Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Big Magic and Eat, Pray, Love

"With his entertaining, eerily well-timed new book, James Nestor explains the science behind proper breathing and how we can transform our lungs and our lives. . . . The book is brisk and detailed, a well-written read that is always entertaining, as he melds the personal, the historical, and the scientific." — The Boston Globe

“It's a rare popular-science book that keeps a reader up late, eyes glued to the pages. But Breath is just that fascinating. It will alarm you. It will gross you out. And it will inspire you. Who knew respiration could be so scintillating?” — Spirituality & Health

“Breath provides a new perspective of modern day technology and how we’ve unknowingly abandoned the answers we’ve always had. James Nestor artfully brings back what modern society has walked away from by combining ancestral techniques and new age technology in one elegant book.”  — Scientific Inquirer

“A transformative book that changes how you think about your body and mind.” — Joshua Foer, New York Times–bestselling author of Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Memory

“Breath is an utterly fascinating journey into the ways we are wired. No matter who you are, you’ll want to read this.” — Po Bronson, New York Times–bestselling author of What Should I Do with My Life? and coauthor of NutureShock

“An eye-opening, epic journey of human devolution that explains why so many of us are sick and tired. A must-read book that exposes what our health care system doesn’t see.” — Dr. Steven Y. Park, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, author of Sleep, Interrupted 

“I don’t say this often, but when I do I mean it: This book changed my life. Breath is part scientific quest, part historical insight, part Hero’s Journey, full of groundbreaking ideas, and a rollicking good read. I had no idea that the simple and intuitive act of inhaling and exhaling has taken such an evolutionary hit. As a result, I figured out why I sleep so badly and why my breathing feels so often out of sync. With a few simple tweaks, I fixed my breathing and fixed myself. A transformational book!” — Caroline Paul, bestselling author of The Gutsy Girl

“If you breathe, you need this book. When we undervalue anything, including something so basic as breathing, bad things always happen—and Nestor makes it clear how awful it’s gotten. But he also provides a clear airway back to better, deeper, stronger respirations.” — Wallace J. Nichols, PhD, New York Times–bestselling  author of Blue Mind

“Breath shows us just how extraordinary the act of breathing is and why so much depends on how we do it. An enthralling, surprising, and often funny adventure into our most overlooked and undervalued function.” — Bonnie Tsui, author of Why We Swim and American Chinatown

"A welcome, invigorating user’s manual for the respiratory system." — Kirkus Review

“Although we all breathe, there is an art and science to breathing correctly . . . Full of fascinating information an compelling arguments, this eye-opening (or more aptly a mouth-closing and nostril-opening) work is highly recommended.” — Library Journal

YouTube  Videos

"The magic of the nose, and it's healing powers,
wasn't lost on the ancients."

Will  Wilkinson

interviews

Andrew  Harvey

Rumi For Our Times

Thriving In Business and Life

youtube.com/channel/UC3IigFZbCHdMz3GxMbxSbaA