Though I've never tried it, this makes me think of Tai Chi or Yoga . . . either way, a beautiful piece.

This brings back a memory of standing on a porch in New Hampshire holding my grandson in my arms and watching a chickadee swoop in toward us, so close he could almost touch it. Thank you, Risa.

What a peaceful way to end my day - Juncos remind me of my mom, she has hundreds of them outside her window in Wyoming and wakes up to eat breakfast with them every morning.

Risa, in my mind, and at my source, I'm am doing this with you as I read...of course it helps that I just returned from meditation class. If my chi wasn't already rolling, this would surely stir it.

Ah....to do the standing meditation in nature can be both wonderful and distracting. It's like doing the sets on lumpy grass instead of a hard flat floor...or wearing shoes when you'd rather be barefoot.

My stance stinks...good times eh? Add to that, my feet hurt, my knees are collapsing, my hips are wrong, my shoulders are too high...of course adding that would ruin the flow of your beautiful poem.
And, I thought of you and Juliet last night at my class. I wish I could have recorded the sound of my chi for you, it filled the room. So lovely and calming.

I did the short set and a short standing meditation in the next field the other week. It was sublime. And I love how animals react to the energy. When it is my external chi, I can share it, but after sitting meditation, when it is my internal energy that flows, I have keep myself from petting my teacher's cat so it doesn't drain away to that slovenly, greedy cat. :)

sorry, this comment is all over the place. I'm just so pleased to read something I can connect with so completely. Namaste!!

owl - yep, this bit of poem was inspired by a standing meditation practice closely akin to the Tai Chi/Yoga stuff -- Yu Chou Chuang (one of various spellings), the Universal Post.

coyote - what a lovely memory! maybe because the wild is growing ever scarcer, when one of its creatures comes near to me in trust, I always feel I must be doing something right.

mamoore - aren't they they most delightful feathered darlings? I'm at the very edge of the Oregon junco's southern habitat... this is what mine was like: www.pbase.com/stusmithphoto/image/68474619
I wonder, is the over-the-Rockies variety your mum hangs out with in the mornings very different?

JK - I simply love the way your words roll -- clear and powerful, like your chi! I love that you read my poem right after your practice (and Tai Chi practice, too)! After that video-tour of your gorgeous homestead, I can SO imagine you in field... and I totally know where that kitty is coming from. She senses you all charged and crackling with chi, and says, "Gimme some of THAT!" ;)
As for kung fu outdoors, well, that's how I learned it. I'm in a strongly nature-based tradition; you'll only find me indoors on the very stormiest days (though I work out on asphalt, brick, wood... smooth, flat surfaces, and only dare the lumpy grass for standing, or I'll sometimes give one of our flatter volcanic rocks a go). Part of what feels so right and healthy about practice is that it gives me a daily connection to the real world and an on-going connection to the wheel of the year, heightening my awareness both of nature's infinitesimal, in-the-moment changes and the sweeping, massive cycles of the seasons. The times I studied forms indoors, I found the ceilings and walls oppressive. When I taught Long Life QiGong at the local health club (second floor), I had to throw open all the windows and re-orient the students to face them -- the standard indoor exercise-class arrangement didn't work for me at all. I like to practice in elements, rooted in the living earth, suspended from the roof of the sky...
(See? I can get rolling, too! I think I've just inspired myself to go do a set in the early twilight!)

Blessed Be. :)
Thanks everyone for stopping by and

Risa,
Such an inspiring and comforting little poem..."No sign of trust sweeter
than the wisp of wind..."

Stance goes from stinking to "blessed by the wind". Of course the stance that stinks is also blessed, everything AS IT IS
is blessed, we know that...in our heads...but to FEEL it is truly the whole point of this existence. To BE the damn wind. Wind means spirit,

they say. Pneuma. The air is coming in, it is going out. I am bringing it in sometimes; other times it seems to come in "by itself". What's the difference?

Jim.wonderful

I love this poem! It's very calming & real & every line is true. I can never get my mind "calm" except when sitting outside in the sun on a cool day with birds & squirrels and "tree-limbs spreading." I like that you start with everything negative -- aching limbs & a stance that "stinks," & then take us through the act/process of becoming calm. I love the line, "My heart laughs." Another one to print out & put in my personal anthology of favorites.

james - I had to smile, 'cause you are SO right that the stance that stinks at the top of the poem is just as perfect as the wild-approved stance at the end. It's the same person in the same stance... she just keeps forgetting that what IS is just fine. (thanks for the sweet reminder!)

suzie - how brilliant you stopped by! I'm glad my brief poetic musing pleased. Wind, trees, sky, critters... I think that good stuff gets us feeling good in just exactly the same way.

Risa! Nobody ever told me there was a "standing Meditation"! Why don't people tell me these important things? I am a lousy sitter, get that monkey mind every time, chatter,chatter.
Now I know there is an alternative...and ! I can doit outside, which is my second favorite place to be, next to
inside...

Jim.

jim -- hi again, and oh YES, there is standing meditation! Mind-chatter is a perennial problem for me, but sitting indoors my brain-blather is incessant. Outdoors under the trees, the mental madness will often shut off on its own as my senses and stillness take over. If you're looking for more reading, there's loads on line. Here at OS, my two first posts ("Universal Post" and "Stand Like a Mountain") are both about standing meditation, Juliet Waters has some amazing posts on the practice, and JK Brady has written many glorious words on the topic, as well. :)