a little down in your dog

Prepping for #breakti slow flow later today at @earthyoganyc...

Sat, 18 May 2013 10:22:16 -0400

Prepping for #breakti slow flow later today at @earthyoganyc with some helpers.

@raphtheguide teaches us somatics and breakin

Sun, 05 May 2013 15:31:09 -0400

@raphtheguide teaches us somatics and breakin

Get it. #breakti

Fri, 03 May 2013 18:25:32 -0400

Get it. #breakti

Scribe schools us on how music affects us all and the artistry...

Fri, 03 May 2013 17:10:06 -0400

Scribe schools us on how music affects us all and the artistry of deejaying.

First day of #breakti training learning to teach breakti series...

Thu, 02 May 2013 15:45:13 -0400

First day of #breakti training learning to teach breakti series A!!

Fear and Fearlessness - dedicated to my breakti trainees today

Thu, 02 May 2013 08:08:59 -0400

The crazy wisdom approach to fear is to not regard it purely as a hang-up, but to realize that fear is intelligent. It has a message of its own. Fear is worth respecting. If we dismiss fear as an obstacle and try to ignore it, then we might end up having accidents. In other words, fear is a very wise message.

You can’t con fear, or frighten fear. You have to respect fear. You might try to tell yourself that it’s not real, that it’s false, but such an approach is questionable. It is better to develop some kind of respect, realizing that neurosis is also a message, rather than garbage that you should just throw away. The whole starting point for working with fear and other emotions is the idea of samsara and nirvana, confusion and enlightenment, being one. Samsara is not regarded as a nuisance alone, but it has its own potent message that is worthy of respect.

Fear contains insight as well as the panicky blind quality we often associate with it. The element of panic has a deaf and dumb quality—you know: doing the best you can, in spite of your fear, hoping everything will be okay. But fear without hope seems to be something very insightful. If you give up your hope of attaining something, then tuning into fear is tuning into its insightful quality. Then, skillful means or action arises spontaneously out of the fear itself. Fear can be extremely resourceful rather than representing hopelessness. It is the opposite of hopelessness, in fact.

-Chögyam Trungpa

Via the folks at I Love Vinyl. Yes.

Wed, 01 May 2013 13:23:14 -0400

Via the folks at I Love Vinyl.
Yes.

Photo

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 22:54:45 -0400

"There are times to cultivate and create, when you nurture your world and give birth to new ideas and..."

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 22:50:31 -0400

“There are times to cultivate and create, when you nurture your world and give birth to new ideas and ventures. There are times of flourishing and abundance, when life feels in full bloom, energized and expanding. And there are times of fruition, when things come to an end. They have reached their climax and must be harvested before they begin to fade. And finally of course, there are times that are cold, and cutting and empty, times when the spring of new beginnings seems like a distant dream. Those rhythms in life are natural events. They weave into one another as day follows night, bringing, not messages of hope and fear, but messages of how things are.””

- Chogyam Trungpa (via zenhumanism)

So much on my mind that I can’t reclineBlastin holes in the night til she bled sunshineBreathe...

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 21:41:38 -0400

So much on my mind that I can’t recline
Blastin holes in the night til she bled sunshine
Breathe in, inhale vapors from bright stars that shine
Breathe out, weed smoke retrace the skyline
Heard the bass ride out like an ancient mating call
I can’t take it y’all, I can feel the city breathin
Chest heavin, against the flesh of the evening
Sigh before we die like the last train leaving

Black Star, Respiration

Photo

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 08:08:32 -0400

as my teacher would say, go out more!!!

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 07:59:39 -0400

as my teacher would say, go out more!!!

basava: I Live Under Your Sky Too is a massive (32-feet wide)...

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 07:52:48 -0400

basava:

I Live Under Your Sky Too is a massive (32-feet wide) installation by artist Shilpa Gupta, erected by the sea on Carter Road in Bandra, Mumbai.

The installation features the text “I live under your sky too” written in three languages — English, Hindi and Urdu — using LED lights with the individual words intermixed. The lights go on and off, highlighting the sentence in each language alternately. Read between the lines and the message is one of religious, national, political, class, and gender harmony.

(Source)

This Very Moment. My Friend, Zoe.

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 07:44:00 -0400

“…Life is just a moment in time
And we go round and round
(if you’re listening)… ”

- Pharcyde, Moment in Time

I went home recently to visit one of my dearest and oldest friends, Zoe, to check in with her and support her as she courageously fights stage four breast cancer. There is no one I know who embodies and embraces life more than Zoe, and to honor her fearlessness and zeal, I am beginning to rethink the way I live and work every day. Consider it a matching pledge drive; as she dedicates herself to raw food, juicing, and natural healing modalities in the face of a very scary disease, I will dedicate myself to my work, relationships, and life in general with more fervor, courage and compassion. When something scares me or makes me worry, I think of her and it moves me to be fearless. When I feel myself harden and close off in reaction to discomfort, I remember Zoe’s open heart and free spirit and it moves me to be more compassionate and open.

Zoe has been through cancer before, and when she was diagnosed this time, back in the fall, she felt very strongly that she did not wish to go through all the chemo, radiation and surgery that she had to endure through the last episode. While it was a very hard decision to make and share with her loved ones, I recognized her unbelievable bravery in the face of this disease and in the face of all of the people who supporterd her but hoped she would take a different route. She has made amazing strides in her journey, converting to a raw food diet, juicing, supplementing, reiki, acupuncture, biofeedback and more… and what is most amazing is that she has done this all through the support of loved ones and even strangers. Zoe works for herself and did not have the money to do this on her own, but through fundraising and the immense generosity of everyone from her neighbors to her healers, she has been able to make this journey.

Zoe’s story embodies two tenets of buddhist thought that I hold dear to my heart: compassion and interdependence. Nothing, NOTHING, not one thing can exist independently on its own in this unvierse. We cannot experience our life in a vacuum, and our interdependence in life is part of what makes it so amazing and grand (and scary). Without the support of others, we would not exist. And without supporting others, we negate the natural flow of life. This is the law of interdependence.

Compassion can be a tricky word. Sometimes it seems too touchy-feely. Sometimes we cannot muster up any tenderness in the face of the horrible things that go on every day in our world, our country, our city, our block. Yet compassion is innate within us, it is our basic nature. When we know someone close to us who is suffering or we hear stories about people like Zoe, it touches our heart. It awakens this innate capacity for fearlessness and love and draws it up from within us like water from a deep cool well.

Zoe’s journey to heal herself through diet and natural medicine has been supported through the interdependence of her many friends and loved ones, and those inspired by her story. The compassion of many has united for the cause of one. This moment is the perfect one to draw up from your well and engage with your life in a way that honors these tenets of compassion and interdependence. I invite you to help me in my pledge drive, matching Zoe’s courage and absolute love of life with your own. Care to join? Now is the time.

I’ll finish with a quote from one of my favorite authors and Buddhist teachers, Pema Chodron.

“…feelings like disappointment, embarrassment, irritation, resentment, anger, jealousy, and fear, instead of being bad news, are actually very clear moments that teach us where it is that we’re holding back. They teach us to perk up and lean in when we feel we’d rather collapse and back away. They’re like messengers that show us, with terrifying clarity, exactly where we’re stuck. This very moment is the perfect teacher, and, lucky for us, it’s with us wherever we are.”

(this was excerpted from my newsletter. if you’d like to read more, please click here.)

may you be protected and safe. may you be light of heart. may you be in tune with the rhythms of...

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 12:46:42 -0400

may you be protected and safe.

may you be light of heart.

may you be in tune with the rhythms of your own body, mind and path.

may you be naturally unfettered, unadorned, and at ease.

…. my own interpretations on the cushion with lovingkindness (metta/maitri) meditation. what words or phrases work for you?

Photo

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 12:14:11 -0400

When a person sits and meditates, it is a special situation, a sacred act. In meditation, even the...

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 10:10:12 -0400

When a person sits and meditates, it is a special situation, a sacred act. In meditation, even the most impure, crude, or confused thoughts are regarded as sacred. You may fall asleep on your cushion or feel that you have not actually meditated at all. Even daydreams on the cushion are important. You should have the attitude that you are involved with a system and a tradition that is valid and has its roots in solid thinking. Meditation is a definite approach, an extremely valid thing to do.

-Chögyam Trungpa

This is fitting since I have another Buddhist studies weekend upcoming at the ID Project. Looking forward!

just diggin through the crates while i make some new business...

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 15:57:21 -0400

photo by Matt Taplinger

photo by Matt Taplinger

photo by Matt Taplinger

photo by Matt Taplinger

just diggin through the crates while i make some new business cards and found these….

this talented guy is responsible for these amazing photos.

Anya, Do you have a public facebook page for Breakti? I would like to follow your journey with kids Breakti as my son would absolutely LOVE this! He is 6, a capoeira student and lover of all yoga and breakdance poses! I would like to follow your posts; although we live in Kansas and have no access to these awesome and creative opportunities. Thank you. Sara

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 14:08:39 -0400

Hi Sara,

Yes!! I do have a FB page for Breakti. I don’t have a separate one for Breakti Kids yet, but maybe soon! Perhaps I can make a journey to Kansas sometime and do a workshop there or even a training… Interestingly enough I have a Kansas connection. Where are you in Kansas? Feel free to DM or email me at ap [at] anyaporter.com with your email address and I can add you to my mailing list and respond in more detail personally.

Breakti FB Page: www.facebook.com/breakti

… Something was happening in New York that year. There was a force in the air that...

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 07:47:38 -0400

…

Something was happening in New York that year. There was a force in the air that didn’t have a name yet. And this one afternoon, it was alive at a block party in the Park Hill projects in Staten Island. I had come by to visit my cousin Gary, who would become the GZA. There, between the two buildings where kids played stickball, some DJs had plugged their systems into the lights. I remember walking in, hearing the sound, feeling the energy, and getting sucked in.

… [The MCs} were on the mike saying just a coupe of very simple rhymes, the same two or three lines all night long. That was rap way back then - just one or two phrases repeated. Like a mantra. And when I heard that beat and those rhymes, I felt a euphoria I can’t even explain. I ended up staying there through the night, not getting back to the house until eleven o’clock and getting an ass-whupping from my mother.

From the Tao of Wu - by the RZA