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khorren · 3 years ago

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Alexis

Today I want to babble about Alexis, my human elementalist who doesn't get as much love as she deserves because I'm a terrible ele. <3 She's my oldest existing character, and a day one head start baby and the first person I did personal story with. She's changed a lot looks wise over the years and her story's changed a little bit but here we are now and she's rather fleshed out. Alexis is one of the descendants of my GW1 warrior, Lexine, along with her twin sister Madison. Since the days of the Flameseeker Prophecies, the Fae family has lead a pretty comfortable life, but as the family tree expanded, so did problems. About 100 years before Alexis came on the scene, the majority of the wealth and klout of that branch of the tree was squandered away. By the time Alexis' parents were on the scene there was little left other than some weapons belonging to Lexine.

Alexis grew up in Ebonhawke. At an early age her parents were taken by charr renegades in a raid and officially listed as MIA and presumed dead. Alexis and Madison with the help of a distant cousin, Kyra, stayed in Ebonhawke and were looked after by the residents. Kyra got involved in more extreme warfare and roped Alexis and her sister in to it. In her teens Alexis would take regular trips over to Divinity's Reach and the surrounding areas and live the life of a bandit, robbing travelers, merchants, anything she could do to get by.

In 1326AE, after the defeat of Zhaitain a series of events occurred that lead to the destruction of Lion's Arch. Lead by Krya, Alexis made her way towards the city in the hopes of ransacking it for valuables left behind. She stole some Ebonhawke Vanguard weapons before she left and posed as an offduty Vanguard officer so she could get around Vigil Keep with little questioning. The night before they planned to raid the city, Alexis had a crisis of faith. A vision of Dwayna appeared and told her of the dark path she was heading down if she didn't change her ways. This shook her to her core, and the next day instead of raiding the town she went in and helped get people out. Using air and water magic, she cleansed the air of miasms and escorted dozens of people and helped tend to the sick at the makeshift medical camps at Vigil Keep and outside of the Durmand Priory. Many people were hidden in houses and caves in the city, and if it wasn't for her they would have surely perished. For her work done there she was hailed as the Hero of Lion's Arch.

With Kyra now no longer an influence in her life, Alexis went down the path of healing rather than destruction. She joined up with the Durmand Priory and carried on honing her skills, but taking the time to learn about her family history, how things were before her family squandered their wealth and good name. There were other Faes out there still, and here she made contact with a perculiar necromancer living in Divinity's Reach. She would often pester Magister Stonehealer to learn more about healing, and in spending time with him she learned more about the Dwarves, in particular the Brotherhood of the Dragon.

During Lions Arch's restoration period, the Zephyrites returned to the scene, offering aid and refuge to people who had been displaced by Scarlet's attack. Alexis took the opportunity to befriend people within the group as they had now taken on the role that the Brotherhood once had. She gained passage on one of the vessels as a Priory Liaison and headed off to the skies, here she learned the ways of the Tempest and how to work with Glint's crystals. She was traveling with them for the duration of the events of Heart of Thorns and instead their ships headed south to Elona. It was here that she explored the ruins of where the Zephyrites built airships at Destiny's Gorge. During her time in Amnoon she received communication from her sister that she too would be coming to Elona. Her god, her commander, Balthazar had crossed into the Crystal Desert and she was to follow him into glorious battle.

Well. That didn't turn out so hot. And her sister was spiraling out into despair and sorrow. Alexis spent some time helping her sister find a place in the world and helped re-train her. Madison found her purpose again and Alexis joined up with the Zephyrites in Thunderhead Peaks only for disaster to strike.

But thanks to a tasty snack eaten a few months prior, hope sprung anew. Some of the Zephyrites splintered off to be part of the Crystal Bloom, and this is where Alexis saw her future. Working with the Commander, Aurene's Champion, and the Herald of Aurene, Alexis found purpose with her new Order. She tends to Aurene's resting spot in the Hall of Monuments and deals with visitors trying to get an audience with the Dragon of Light.

#Guild Wars 2 #GW2 #alexis

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thebibliomancer · 3 years ago

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Tides of the Dark Crystal liveblog pt 21

Tides of the Dark Crystal because Tavra is revealing her spidery fate to Tae!

Last times on book: Amri and co are on a quest to unite all the Gelfling against the Skeksis. They've managed with the Sifa and with the Dousan. They thought they managed with the Vapra since All-Maudra Mayrin was part of the big Gelfling conference call Aughra hosted but they've just received word that Mayrin has died. The group has come, finally, to Ha'rar to find the streets stalked by sinister Skeksis. They also find Tae of the Sifa and have gone off to regroup with her.

Chapter 21

Tae and the group catch each other up, then Amri tries to catch a sea monster.

At the far end of Ha'rar, the cliffs dropped away into the ocean. A narrow, carved stairway cut down the steep mountainside and deposited them at the wharf, a stretch of ice shelf held against the Ha'rar cliffside with stone pillars. Metal poles -- used for docking ships, Amri imagined -- stuck out of the ice and water like spines. But all were empty. What had probably once been a bustling marketplace and landing for the Sifa and other seafarers was now barren and silent.

There was only one ship in the harbor, a familiar Sifa craft with red, blue, and purple sails. Amri felt safer as soon as they were inside, cabin doors locked and the cushions and quilts surrounding them with the scent of Onica's herbs and Sifa fernsage.

Huh! Welcome back to Onica's ship everyone. Once they went to the desert, I didn't suspect they'd be back to it.

Tae explains that she accompanied Ethri to the maudra meeting and since they didn't know what to expect, they borrowed Onica's ship instead of bringing the Omerya. But she wants to hear their explanation first. She called dibs on hearing exposition.

So they recap how Tavra got taken over by Krychk the spider and used to infiltrate Team Naia, how Kylan dream-stitched Tavra’s soul to the spider when her body died, and how they sent the flower petal warning to the world. For good measure, they recap the part of the book after they left Cera-Na.

Tae is curious about the spider thing and asks what its like to do the crystal-singer thing.

“It’s sort of like dreamfasting,” Amri answered for them both. “You know how in a dreamfast, you feel like you’re someone else, just for that dream? It was like that. I felt like I was her.”

“And I was you,” Tavra finished in agreement. “Yes, it was like dreamfasting. I was able to see through Amri’s eyes. When we flew to save Onica from the Crystal Skimmers, it was as if for a moment...”

As if for a moment I was Gelfling again, she had been about to say. Amri frowned. He wondered how it must have felt, if even for a moment. To fly once more, only to have to go back to being a spider again.

Poor Tavra.

Tae asks why she didn’t reveal herself back at Cera-Na.

“What was there to say?” Tavra asked with a spider-size shrug. “My own sisters do not know I am still alive. If this state could be called living.”

=( =( =(

Are there Gelfling therapists?

Onica interrupts this sad line of thought by asking Tae to take her turn to explain whats been going on. She especially wants confirmation that the Skeksis killed the All-Maudra.

THIS is news to Tae but not a surprise and she has to shake off the anger with a sigh of frustration.

So Tae explained that Seladon sent out windsifters with pieces of the crown and a message that Mayrin had passed. No further information.

As was tradition, the maudra gathered in Ha’rar to crown Seladon and that’s when things got weird. Once the maudra were gathered, Seladon announced that Mayrin was a traitor and would not be given burial honors. Then she declared that the Vapra were loyal to the Castle and called for the maudra to bless her ascent to All-Maudra with the insinuation that to not support her was the same as declaring war against the Skeksis.

Ethri didn’t know what to do given this subtle ultimatum and with the Ritual Master and General in the city so wound up supporting Seladon for All-Maudra, figuring that the resistance could still be built in secret under cover of maudra unity.

So that’s the explanation for why Ethri supported Seladon in the All-Maudra election despite having come around to resistance in this book. Cool, cool.

However, Momdra Laesid withheld her support. Amri guessing that she wouldn’t support an All-Maudra swearing loyalty to the Skeksis when the Skeksis have named two of her children as traitors.

And Maudra Fara also withheld her support, I guess having changed her mind from Song of the Dark Crystal she didn’t want to rock the boat.

Maudra Argot didn’t attend the meeting, having important cave business but sent back her piece of the crown.

Maudra Seethi and Maudra Mera blessed Seladon and Tae isn’t sure whether its because they support the Skeksis or fear them.

So that’s a majority vote for Seladon for All-Maudra. One that bodes of a split among the Gelfling. Right when they need unity. Even if Seethi and Argo flip for the resistance, its not looking good.

After the vote, Maudra Ethri returned to Cera-Na to update the Sifa but Tae stayed behind.

Tavra tells her it was foolish to stay and analogizes the current situation to a storm.

“I know that. But the last time I faced a storm near Ha’rar, I could do nothing to stop it. You had to save me. This time, I will do everything I can to do the saving.”

Naia and Kylan glanced at each other and Amri remembered he was the only one who had seen Tavra’s memories and heard from Onica about her Far-Dream of the storm. Naia and Kylan had no idea what Tavra and Tae were talking about.

Hah.

Onica cuts the tension by saying there’s no point arguing about it when its already happened. Tae is here with Onica’s ship so they might as well accept it.

So Amri questions what Maudra Fara will do after denying Seladon as All-Maudra.

“The Stonewood are loyal and Maudra Fara is a fierce maudra for her people,” Kylan said. “I learned that much when she forced us to leave instead of offering us sanctuary. If she’s decided to stand with Rian, and knows that the Skeksis will come for her people first...”

“She may go to war with them,” Tae finished. “She said as much when she challenged Seladon. And Naia, you mother, Maudra Laesid. What do you think she’ll do?”

“Fight,” Naia replied without hesitation. “She didn’t lose her leg running away from battles... But this is wrong! Now isn’t the time that any of them should be fighting among themselves. We need to unite, not break apart!”

Tavra decides that this is why Mayrin was killed, because the Skeksis found out she was going to join the resistance and Seladon would be easier to manipulate.

Seladon has also gone dark since the crown ceremony and there’s rumors that she left Ha’rar or that the Skeksis killed her too. And the Vapra are loyal to a fault, like the Stonewood. They’ll follow their maudra but if their maudra isn’t given a voice, the Vapra will remain docile.

Everyone feels pretty down now with the situation being pretty dire and Tae announces that Tavra should be All-Maudra instead of Seladon.

“This isn’t fair, Tavra! It should be you leading the Vapra -- your voice that should be heard. It should be you standing against the Skeksis for the Vapra, not Seladon! Everyone has always known it should be you!”

Man. I cannot imagine that helped Seladon’s inferiority complex. Never able to live up to her mom’s standards and everyone thought her younger sister was a better All-Maudra prospect than her. Geez.

Despite Tavra shooting down her argument by saying that Seladon is the rightful successor due to being the first-born and that even if she had a body, its not given that she’d beat Seladon in a challenge since her lack of fortitude is what got her into this spidery predicament to begin with.

“And yet you fight on, like a true leader --”

“Because there is nothing else I can do!”

Aw geez.

“Of course I wish I could displace Seladon. Lead my people. But I can’t! The Vapra cannot see me. Ha’rar cannot hear my voice. I cannot wield a sword against the ones that killed my mother. I cannot even hold the one I love. So let it go, Tae. Let me go and find another hero to put your faith in.”

Aw geez again.

There’s only so much a stoic demeanor can hold when someone is piling on and making you feel how helpless you really feel.

Tavra does the thing she’s been doing when she’s done with a conversation and physically leaving the room. Its about the only thing she has control over so I get it. She just squeezes between the table planks and disappears into the room.

Onica changes the topic because she’s been really good at that. But she brings up that they need to try to unite the Vapra but that the Skeksis in the city makes that hard.

Tae tells her that the Skeksis requested that the Vapra gather on the steps of the citadel tomorrow night. Some believe that Seladon will finally make an appearance but others believe that the Skeksis will announce her death.

Either way, that gathering is their best shot to reach the Vapra but at the same time, having the Skeksis present makes it dangerous. Even if they get the Vapra to light the fire of resistance, the Skeksis will be there to see it and so much for uniting the Gelfling in secret, its instead an open declaration of war and one that the Gelfling might not be able to win. Especially with not all of the clans united.

Tae asks Onica to do the Far-Dreaming thing she does and ask for Thra for answers. Though Onica tries, no answer comes from Thra. “It does not always, and we must find peace within that.”

Darnit, Thra.

Although I wonder if this is one of the things like with the Dousan, where Thra isn’t going to answer because the answer is already there.

Onica tells them to get some sleep and immediately gets up and goes to bed.

There’s nothing really that everyone can do but follow her lead.

Amri is still awake as all his friends drift off, the poor protagonist nocturnal boy. And he thinks that what the Vapra need is something or someone to remind them that they’re not alone.

But he’s still stuck on Tavra being that something and he can’t wrap his head around a workaround to the whole she’s a spider thing.

He hears a CLUNK in the night. He thinks its the boat bumping against the wharf but it keeps CLUNKing followed by splashes so now he starts wondering about that story he heard about a water spirit that lures little Gelflings into the sea.

Gelfling or humans. If you live where theres a sea, you’re gonna worry that there’s something in it that will drag you in.

He tries to wake up Naia but she’s fast asleep. So Amri goes out onto the deck alone, in the middle of the night.

Oh, Amri. Never become a horror movie character.

You’re probably okay here because the book doesn’t switch POVs.

On the deck, he becomes distracted by the light of the Waystar up on the cliffs.

Amri walked out, staring up at it. It had guided ships into the wharf, had brought travelers north as they came to meet with the All-Maudra. To see the beautiful Ha’rar, a place whose name was known as far and wide as the Gelfling race had traveled. A place now as vulnerable as Domrak. As silenced as a Silverling in the body of a spider.

There’s still splashing and clunking against the boat, so like a smart person, he leans over the side to look into the water.

He sees a long shape with a long tail swimming and bumping into the ship. Amri calls for Naia or Tavra but neither his voice nor the collisions seem to wake them up.

So like a smart person, Amri grabs a coil of rope, ties a slipknot, throws the loop at the sea creature just as it breaches, snagging it. Giving him rope burn because this thing can pull.

“Naia!” he shouted. She didn’t answer. She didn’t come.

A loop of the rope came racing up behind him. Before he knew what was happening, it caught him around the ankle. He lost his footing as the line shot over the side of the rail, tangling around his legs. Then he was falling over the rail, crashing into the frigid ocean water below.

Well, Amri. You only have yourself to blame for this.

You Ahab’d yourself.

#dark crystal #the dark crystal #Tides of the Dark Crystal #liveblog #Amri #Naia #Kylan #Tavra #Onica #Tae #wanted to get this post out sooner but I've been on mandatory overtime and was too tired to liveblog

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partnersrelief · 5 years ago

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What’s happening in Syria right now?

In the midst of a bitter winter, the violence and ensuing refugee crisis in Syria continues to unfold. Here are some answers to the questions you might be asking:

Who is fighting whom?

Turkey has long backed opposition forces in the Syrian civil war against the Assad regime who, backed by Russia and Iran, has largely defeated the uprising at the cost of thousands of lives and the making of millions of refugees over the last 9 years. (PBS)

Where are the attacks happening?

Idlib is a province in northwestern Syria that borders Turkey to the north. The city of Idlib is about 60 km from Aleppo, the capital of Idlib province.

In the nine years since the Syrian Civil War began, people have been fleeing to Idlib from the front lines. Now the front line has come to them.

Why is Idlib important?

The city of Idlib and surrounding regions are the last stronghold controlled by opposition forces against the Assad regime.

The opposition once controlled large parts of the country, but the Syrian army has retaken most of the territory over the past five years with the help of Russian air power and Iran-backed militias. Now, the army wants to "liberate" Idlib. (BBC)

How many civilians have fled? Where are they going?

More than 948,000 people have been displaced in Northern Syria since the beginning of December 2019. Women and children make up 81 percent of the displaced population.

Displaced civilians hide anywhere they can, sometimes in caves and old prison cells, as the worst humanitarian crisis in the 9-year Syria conflict unfolds. At least one million people are on the move as a result of the recent crisis.

Turkey already hosts more than 3.6 million Syrian refugees and fears a new influx, said Al Jazeera's Hashem Ahelbarra. Many refugees are encamped along the Turkey/Syria border, kept from getting into Turkey by a large concrete wall. Middle East Eye also reported that Turkey will open its Idlib border and allow refugees free passage to Europe.

Refugees are facing bitter cold, rain, and snow as they flee. Many are without tents, blankets, or proper clothing Some are forced to sleep outside because the camps are full; babies and small children are dying from the cold.

What led to the current attacks?

Since May 2017, a “de-escalation” agreement in Idlib has been in effect between Russia, Turkey, and Iran. In October of that year, Turkey and Russia sent troops to their respective controlled territories to monitor the agreement. However, the Syrian Army still took control of much of Idlib’s countryside.

In 2018, Turkey and Russia came to an agreement to create a “demilitarized buffer zone” along the front lines of fighting; this was never fully realized.

“Then in April 2019, the army launched what Russia called a "limited" offensive in northern Hama and southern Idlib. The UN said 500 civilians were killed and 400,000 displaced over the next four months before a ceasefire was declared.”

The current government assault, which began in December, has displaced another 900,000 civilians. Turkey already hosts 3.6 million Syrian refugees and doesn’t wish to accept more.

“Turkey has already sent thousands of reinforcements to Idlib and there have been deadly clashes between Syrian and Turkish forces. But President Assad has vowed to continue the offensive to bring the opposition enclave back under his control” (BBC).

How is the international community responding?

The international and humanitarian community is calling for an immediate cessation of violence and cross-border aid delivery in Syria.

The UN reports: “A massive humanitarian operation is underway in the region as Syrians continue to flock to overcrowded areas near the Turkish border, amid sub-zero temperatures in which children have frozen to death.

The UN Secretary-General has described the crisis as a “man-made humanitarian nightmare”.

The situation in Syria is complex. But one thing we know is simple: children shouldn’t suffer because adults are fighting. That’s why we work around the clock to provide any aid we can for the nearly 1 million people fleeing Idlib.

#syria #syria war #turkey #refugees #IDPs #displaced #Mideast #middle east #syrian refugees #to love is to act #Partners Relief #Partners Relief & Development #partners #FAQ #news #syria civil war

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cecilspeaks · 8 years ago

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108 - Cal

There’s a billboard along the highway that reads: “Everything. Must. Go.”

Welcome to Night Vale.

I don’t talk much about my brother on this show. Cal. He visited the other day from his home out near Eagle Farm, up in the mountains. He looked gaunt and pale. When I opened the door, he was bracing himself against the porch beam with one arm and coughing.

Cal was holding a suitcase. It was old-fashioned, leather, the kind without wheels or an extendable handle. He drove to my house in a 1980 Mercury Monarch, brick red, four doors. The front left bumper was caved in and the headlight, which looked to have been taped into place, had loosened again and fallen forward. I asked Cal what had happened to his car. He didn’t know what I was talking about. I asked about the bumper and headlight, and he said, “That’s just how they make them, Cecil.” Them he teased me for not understanding cars and walked into my home before I could invite him in.

“Have you ever opened a box, only to find another box inside that box, and then you open that box and there was another box within it, and then you kept opening boxes hoping to find the last box. But the boxes became so small, your comparatively large fingers could no longer open them. Until the box was so tiny, you couldn’t see the box at all.”

I’m not sure what that means. It’s neither here nor there. Which is to say it’s nowhere. Aquí, ahí, todo el mundo, no hay nada.

I don’t know Spanish.

Yesterday afternoon, Hadassah McDaniels and the other five-headed dragons, outraged at the partial execution of Hadassah’s brother Hiram last fall, moved into City Hall. They displaced Mayor Cardinal and her staff, who then called upon the Sheriff’s Secret Police, and the rarely seen Double Secret Police – a police so secret that even their members do not know that they are members. Both the Secret and the very surprised Double Secret Police, just that morning informed of their jobs, showed up at City Hall and tried reasoning with the dragons. The dragons ignored the weak efforts of the police and made straight for City Council. The Council climbed up on the roof of city Hall, their many sharp appendages swinging down from their single giant body, punching out windows and grabbing whatever long dragon necks they could reach. And the City Council’s newest member, 16-year-old Tamika Flynn, the only member not connected to their primary form, rode on the rest of the council’s back with a long bow. The dragons breathed fire upward at the City Council, who shrieked in pain, or possibly delight. The battle ended when City Council was knocked off the roof by five-headed dragon and private estate lawyer, Dirk Andrews. The council, minus Tamika, retracted form the advancing dragons, called a Lyft and sped out of town, as they are wont to do in times of crisis.

Tamika paced at the edge of the City Hall lawn, cursing and thwacking a well-worn copy of Glen David Gould’s “Carter Beats the Devil” into her calloused palm. Above the City Hall, a long black slit was torn into the light blue sky, and no one reported seeing the moon.

When Cal entered my house, I offered him some tea, and then called Carlos to come join us. But Cal said he doesn’t drink, and Carlos didn’t respond to my calls. I told Cal it was just tea, no alcohol, and he said he doesn’t drink anything. I peaked into Carlos’ office, but he wasn’t there. Nothing was there. It was just an empty room. Carlos wasn’t gone, he had never been there. And for a moment I did not miss him, as for a moment, I did not remember he existed. It was just an empty room, I thought casually.

Cal sat down his suitcase and said, “You hear that Cecil? You hear that noise?” He pointed straight up. “In the firmament,” he said. “Do you hear it?” he repeated. I listened, and I heard. I heard paper being torn, I heard weeds being pulled, I heard – egg shells crumbling.

When I looked back to say yes, he was holding his hand to his mouth and lurching forward over the sink. A trickle of blood ran down the outside of his hand. I could see his tongue moving rapidly along the insides of his cheeks, as he let out small grunts. He finally removed his hand and spat sharply into the kitchen sink. I heard a loud rattling in the stainless steel basin and saw two teeth, unbroken, root, bones and all, lying in the strainer. I stared at them and remarked at how long a human tooth actually is.

Cal wiped his face and hands. “Nice to finally get rid of those,” he said as he tore off pieces of paper towel and wedged them into the holes in his gums. Then he asked, “You got a girlfriend or what, little brother?”

In my life with Cal, I’d never told him I would never have a girlfriend. In Night Vale, no one cared either way, but I felt like Cal would have. In this other reality, I was single. So I only said, “No.”

He shrugged and scratched his head. As he did, a patch of dark hair fell to the floor. We watched it fall, lilting and looping slowly downward.

Which falls faster, a brick or a tuft of hair? Carlos taught me this physics riddle. It’s a trick question. The brick falls faster, not because of its weight but because a brick falling is less horrifying than the unexpected loss of even a minor part of your body. Time does not slow down for that which is uninteresting.

“Hah, better not look in the mirror,” Cal said, as he nervously simulated the sound of laughter. A dribble of blood ran down his chin and onto his chest.

When the Public Library disappeared last week, no one celebrated nor mourned its absence, as we could barely remember it being there. In its place, a long black sliver of nothing. A hole in our universe, near which no one wanted to go. Except for Carlos, who’s a scientist and wants tot study everything, but I told him no way. The pteranodons which poured out of a similar hole inside the Rec Center last month have taken over the Barista District, building giant nests from canvas bean sacks and flyers promoting local bands and burlesque shows.

Near the City Hall, dozens of angels, more than I have ever seen at one time, are still surrounding the Hall of Public Records, demanding expedition of their application to be officially recognized as living beings. The angels are waving hand-drawn signs with phrases like “Look at us”. But their handwriting is so shaky as to make the typography quite distracting, so most bystanders did not notice the angels, but instead fixated on trying to read their signs. The angels are shouting, “It only works if you believe it does!” But as this sentence has an erratic rhythm, it didn’t catch on with many passers-by, many of whom were busy screaming and running from vengeance-minded dragons. Some even pointed into space and yelled, “The Distant Prince!” He’s less distant than ever before.

Cal told me stories of our youth. How, as kids, we would sneak out late at night and vandalize houses and cars for fun. Little things like stealing hood ornaments or placing live scorpions in mailboxes or making creepy ghost noises outside bedroom windows. He smiled as he regaled what was for him, a funny story of boys being boys, but I didn’t like his story. I could remember it, but I also knew it wasn’t real at all. In his story, I was prying loose the aluminum ram’s head at the front of a 1975 Dodge pickup with a flat head screwdriver. The truck was dark blue with tan leather bench seats. I remembered it was parked in front of a mid-century ranch style home with a rock garden full of succulents and herbs.

As Cal spoke, I could smell rosemary in the cool desert air.

Cal placed his hands on his belly, and his eyes rolled back in his head. “You OK?” I asked. “It’s just the after effects man,” Cal shrugged. “Hey, you remember when Mom used to take us to the library to read, but we would look up dirty words in the dictionary instead?” “Mom would have never put us in such danger,” I protested.

He stared at me for a moment, his head cocked sideways, an eyebrow raised. Then he lurched forward out of his seat onto his hands and knees and vomited onto the rug. We both stared at the viscous red stain concerned. No, not concerned – embarrassed.

Let’s have a look at the Community Calendar. This Thursday afternoon, the Faceless Old Woman and the Woman from Italy will be at the Night Vale Mall from noon to 4 PM, offering bespoke tortures for anyone who walks by. The Woman from Italy will recite the unlucky passers-by future pain, in the form of a catchy poem like:

[normal voice] The Woman from Italy will leave you in stitches. Not laughter, though she’ll laugh. A sound which is full of diabolical torment And wicked behavior, As she flays you before your friends and your neighbors. You’ll yet be alive when she opens your chest, The wet beat of your heart and the choke of your breath. She coos, “Don’t fear! It’s as quick as can be.” But in truth, there’s years left to this misery.

The Faceless Old Woman will simply write some harsh insults in silver sharpie on the side of an eggplant and hurl it at your family.

Saturday afternoon, the Night Vale PTA will be holding an emergency bake sale to raise money for the elementary school gym, recently burned down by Hadassah McDaniels. It’s also a clearance sale to finally get rid of the store room full of baked goods that have gone unsold the past two years.

Monday, another hole will open in the sky, and then another. Things will come, other things will go. I will remember that Michigan is a real state and its capital is Lansing. And that I once when camping with Cal and my mother, and some family friends, up near Higgins Lake when I was 9. Soon after knowing this, I will stop knowing it again.

This has been the Community Calendar.

I tried to explain to Cal that something was amiss. I had a sister, not a brother. I wasn’t single but married. I tried to show Cal photos of Abby, and of my husband, Carlos. But when I went to our photo albums, they were different. There were photos of Cal and I as children, but none of Abby or Carlos or Steve or Janice or this radio station. Noen of a recognizable Night vale.

Based on our clothing and the cars and the fashions, no photo was older than – I’d say the early 1980’s? There was a picture of me as a teenager at Cal’s wedding. I pointed at her and said, “Bethany. Still just as radiant, I bet.”

And Cal said, “Don’t!” “How is she these days?” I asked Cal, and he pushed me and shouted, “Don’t!”

He started to cry. I kept my eyes down the hall toward the empty office. I knew someone should be in that empty room, someone I c ared for, someone I loved but – I didn’t know who.

Cal’s crying turned to sobbing and he isad, “I’m sorry I, I didn’t mean…” I put my arm around him and said softly: “I know, I know Cal. Shh. It’s OK.” “It’s just when you asked about Bethany,” he said. “You know she didn’t- she didn’t-“ He couldn’t finish the sentence, but I knew Bethany didn’t. That year, most people didn’t. But also that’s not how it happened. And also, I don’t have a brother.

He quivered in my arms, and above us, I heard the sky tearing open. Smoke in the distance. Most days I see distant smoke.

“You OK?” asked my brother. “Yes,” he said. “Thank you for… thank you for understanding.” “Sure thing, I said to him. “Please, leave my house.”

And now, the weather.

[“Robert Frost” by Mal Blum]

I don’t talk much about my brother on this show. Cal. Because he’s not my reality. I almost said he’s not real, but that’s not true. There is still a bloodstain on my rug, and a bruise from where he pushed me. I remembered Cal’s wedding. I remembered stealing hood ornaments. I remembered the smell of that rosemary bush in that rock garden. But then Cal left. He did not drive away, but vanished as the gash tore open above us. I had trouble remembering his visit, so I wrote it all down. I’m reading it now, to you, verbatim from my journal, and I cannot believe my own writing.

Carlos and his office are back. They were never gone, Carlos says. Multiple timelines is basic quantum physics, which is the most exciting kind of physics, he said. This morning, I gave Carlos a tight hug in bed and kissed him along the back of his beautiful hair – perfect, even when matted asymmetrically from sleep.

The angels are still standing around the Hall of Public Records, demanding that people look at them. There is one sign that says “We’re angels, and we’re totally real, and you’re making a huge mistake not acknowledging that. Trust us, we’re totally angels.” And while I appreciate the sentiment, I do think they’d be better served hiring a copywriter, or at least a decent graphic designer.

Holes are tearing open across the sky, and I can barely hear myself thinking most days.

The dragons have marched into the City Jail freeing all the inmates, mostly political prisoners being held for an unnamed international leader, as well as a handful of college-aged drunk tankers.

Mayor Cardinal, from her home, issued a statement about the disintegration of our town and bleeding together of realities. The statement reads: “My father, who died of liver cancer when I was five, has returned. He arrived from a hole in our reality. I am choosing to go with him, Night Vale. I am choosing the world where he did not die, where I did not kill my double, where dragons did not destroy our town. Listen to the ripping of the firmament and find a world you prefer, Night Vale. All else is pain.”

[sadly] Listeners. I beg you not to do this. This is the world we built, right here. If you leave, if you don’t accept it – [whispers] it cannot hold together.

Hold tight those you love, Night Vale. Not for fear of their loss, but for love of their presence. Hold onto what you know is real. Life is only a narrative, but it’s a narrative we write together.

Stay tuned next for – huh? Whatever was on the schedule for this month has all been scribbled out with charcoal. And with the same charcoal, someone has scrawled “A story about Huntokar” across the entire broadcast calendar. So stay tuned for that, I guess.

And for what it’s worth, and for however long our own narrative has left, Good night, Night Vale, Good night.

Today’s proverb: You’ll catch more flies with honey than with vinegar, but you’ll catch even more with a corpse of some sort.

#welcome to night vale #wtnv #wtnv transcripts #episode 108 #cal

84 notes · View notes

fitnesshealthyoga-blog · 6 years ago

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New Post has been published on https://fitnesshealthyoga.com/how-to-channel-durga-during-challenging-times/

How to Channel Durga During Challenging Times

The warrior goddess Durga can help you find the leader within. Here’s how to call on her when you need to feel empowered.

Monica Moreno Art

Five years ago, Lynda opened a yoga studio in an inner-city neighborhood in a big east-coast city. A recovering alcoholic, Lynda saw the studio as her public service, a way to reach out to other young women who might otherwise lead troubled lives. She used donations as well as money from her sessions with private clients to pay the rent, and she advertised free yoga classes for high school girls. Slowly her classes filled up, often with girls who had no place to go in the afternoon after school.

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Teaching these vulnerable, skeptical, wounded young women was challenging for Lynda. One night, after a particularly tough day, she dreamed of a beautiful woman mounted on a huge roaring lion. When she awoke, she realized that the image she had seen was reminiscent of Durga, the warrior goddess of Indian mythology. That day, guiding an especially restless group of girls into the Warrior sequence, she began to tell them about Durga. The girls were entranced. One of them asked Lynda to download a picture of Durga from the Internet for her. “I want to make a T-shirt,” she said. “That lady is my hero.”

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“When she said that,” Lynda told me, “I realized that it was true for me, too. The image of Durga has been showing up in my dreams ever since. She’s the image I carry with me when I have to deal with my landlord or handle one of those girls when she’s disrupting the class. In some way, the image of Durga has become a symbol of the strength I need to keep this thing going.”

Lynda is not the only yogi I know who identifies with Durga. The image of this goddess riding her lion, her eight arms holding weapons and flowers, might be the avatar for empowerment and protection, especially for women. Those of us who juggle families, jobs, and yoga; who step up to support the environment; or who travel to storm-torn cities to help build housing for displaced families are living out a contemporary version of the legend of Durga. And for men as well as women, meditation on Durga can bring forth warrior-like strength and protective compassion. When you bring her image into your inner world, she can empower your most radical aspirations and guide you through your most conflict-ridden life dramas. More than that, Durga embodies the inner power to transform yourself—to let go of addictions, obstacles, and the illusions and fears that hold you back.

See also 5 Yoga Teachers Who Overcame Addiction

Bring Goddess Power Into Your Meditation Practice with Durga

You may wonder why, as a contemporary yogi, you’d find it worthwhile to invite the energy of mythic beings into your meditation practice. The short answer is that these archetypal energies are catalysts. Meditating on deities such as Durga, Hanuman, Shiva, and Lakshmi can call forth specific powers and qualities within you. These sacred powers come to you from beyond your limited ego and can help you meet challenges, open your heart, and transcend the ordinary. For centuries, the Indian and Tibetan Tantric traditions have taught meditations and mantras for bringing deity energy into the body and mind. Goddesses are especially potent, since they personify shakti, the subtle feminine force that enlivens the world, often considered the power behind spiritual growth. So practicing with the stories and mantras of one of these sacred figures can literally invite transformative energies into your life.

The images of these goddesses can serve as keys to unlocking your own inner potency. That’s because, though mythic, they are not just figments of human imagination. Goddess images represent real forces present in the universe. Their forms are extremely subtle, which is why they’re not normally apparent. Through the tales, meditations, and mantras associated with them, you can learn to sense their presence. The more you connect to them, the more palpably you can experience their inner gifts and blessings.

Just as Lakshmi is the shakti, or goddess, you call on for abundance, so Durga is the shakti you call on for strength, protection, and transformation. Worshipped by the ruling families of Rajasthan for help in battle, Durga is much more than a warrior goddess. She is also the power behind spiritual awakening, the inner force that unleashes spiritual power within the human body in the form of kundalini. And she is a guardian: beautiful, queenly, and motherly.

See also A 90-Minute Yoga Playlist to Awaken Your Inner Warrior

Durga carries a spear, a mace, a discus, a bow, and a sword—as well as a conch (symbolizing creative sound), a lotus (representing fertility), and a rosary (symbolizing prayer). In one version of her origin, she arises from the combined strength of the male gods to fight the buffalo demon Mahisha. The assembled gods, furious because they are powerless over this demon, send forth their anger as a mass of light and power. It coalesces into the form of a radiantly beautiful woman who fills every direction with her light. Her face was formed out of the light of Shiva; her hair came from Yama, the god of death; Vishnu, the sustainer, gave her arms. Shiva gave her his trident, Vishnu his discus; Vayu—the wind god—offered his bow and arrow. The mountain god, Himalaya, gave her a lion for her mount. Durga sets forth to battle the demon for the sake of the world, armed with all the powers of the divine masculine.

And ever since, she has been the deity to call on when you’re in deep trouble. In the Devi Mahatmyam (Triumph of the Goddess), a medieval song cycle about Durga that is still recited all over India, she promises that she will always appear when we need her to protect our world. She invites us to turn to her in crisis and promises to move mountains to rescue us from every form of evil—including the evil we, ourselves, create!

Learn how to tap into your inner strength with Durga.

Durga Slaying demons

In fact, in the tales of Durga, the demons she battles are not just external bad guys. They also represent the inner obstructive forces we face in our journey to enlightenment and self-actualization. So, as you read her story, think of it not just as a superhero saga but also as a parable about the process of inner work. Consider that it is showing you how to dissolve the negative energies of fear, greed, and anger so that you can stand in your essential strength and beauty. Your inner battle may not be as dramatic as this one. But it’s going on, nonetheless!

Shumbha and Nishumbha are brilliant demon brothers with magical superpowers. They’ve practiced hard austerities in order to earn a boon, or benefit, from their cosmic grandfather, Brahma. The boon makes them unconquerable by men or gods, but Brahma has been careful to word the boon so that it contains a loophole: It says nothing about a goddess.

The demon brothers are soon masters of the universe. They eject the gods from the celestial regions and enslave the inhabitants of the earth. The gods are reduced to hiding in caves, plotting revenge. But finally, a sage reveals to them that the demons have a weakness.

Though Shumbha and Nishumbha can’t be conquered by anyone male, they might be vulnerable to a female warrior. So the gods travel to the mountain where Durga has her hidden dwelling to ask her for help.

See also Oh My Goddess: Invoking Your Inner Feminine Energy

As they call out to her with prayers and hymns of praise, Durga appears out of the clouds, clothed in robes whose colors shift and slip, revealing and concealing the beauty of her breasts and the curve of her belly. An erotic perfume surrounds her. She rides a lion.

In a voice like soft thunder rumbling through mountains, she agrees to intervene and restore the balance. The goddess has no sooner spoken than she has transported herself to the demon kings’ garden. Flowers drip from her fingers, and clouds form and dissolve in her hair. She is beauty personified, allurement clothed in form, enchantment itself. Within moments, the demon kings have come to their windows to look at her. They are connoisseurs of feminine beauty. Of course, they want her in their harem.

But when the palace major-domo brings the demons’ proposal to Durga, she smiles. “There is just one difficulty,” she explains. “In my girlhood, I took a silly vow that I would only marry a man strong enough to defeat me in battle. You know how girls are—full of fantasy and romantic notions. But a vow is a vow. If your masters really want me, they’ll have to fight with me.”

“Lady, you are either mad or suicidal,” says the major-domo. “No one has ever defeated my masters.”

“Nonetheless, that is my condition,” says Durga, giving him such a languorous glance that he feels stirrings of lust in every part of his body. “And if your masters are afraid to do battle, I am happy to take on their army.”

Which she does. In an intense battle, the goddess defeats battalion after battalion. At one point, a host of goddesses emerge from her body, including the fearsome Kali. Together, the goddesses destroy the entire demon army, leaving only the brothers. Shumbha advances upon Durga.

“You said that you would fight my army single-handed,” shouts Shumbha in a voice so loud it shakes the nearby hills to powder. “But you had helpers. Your challenge is forfeit.”

“Not so,” roars the goddess, vibrating the sky with celestial thunder. “These goddesses are parts of me.” The other goddesses melt back into her form, leaving just Durga, shining with an almost blinding light.

The goddess’s eight-armed form swells until it fills the sky. Twirling her great sword like a baton in one hand and her axes, maces, spears, and crossbows in the others, she flies through the air and slays the demon kings.

“Ma,” says Shumbha with his dying breath, and then a smile comes over his face as the ecstasy of the goddess fills his being. In that instant, both demons are transfigured, dissolving into Durga’s body and dying into the mystery. When the ego dissolves, even the most demonic soul comes home, back to the heart of the mother. Durga returns to her mountain home, promising to return when there is need for her help.

See also The Goddess Every Vinyasa Flow Fan Must Know

How to use Durga to let go of ego

This tale makes sense on several levels. From the point of view of the environment, it’s a story about the unstoppable power of nature. From another perspective, it assures us that higher powers will protect us when we take refuge in them. But on the esoteric level, the Durga story is about the transformation of the ego. The mighty battle between Durga and the demons is the inner struggle that invariably begins when we undertake real transformative practice.

Like those demon kings, the ego enters into spiritual practice with its own secret agenda. Egos seek control—control over circumstances, control over the body, and control over the people around us. Power and mastery are what matter to the ego. So, naturally, the ego will resist surrendering to higher powers, letting go of its agendas, or giving up control on any level. But shakti has a different agenda. She wants to move us away from egocentric consciousness and recognize our fundamental oneness with one another and the cosmos. To do this, she must put the ego in its place and ultimately dissolve it. The ego, however, will fight her to the death.

The demons personify the more primitive and intransigent forces of ego. They are the parts of us that unabashedly crave power over others. The demonic part of the self sees everything and everyone, including the higher powers of the universe, as tools that serve the ego’s personal agendas. The gods, as we’ve mentioned, also represent aspects of the self, but they represent the authentic Self, the unique personal qualities of essence. The devas represent our love, our dedication, our good intentions, and the forgiveness and compassion we display when we’re aligned with the higher Self. Durga arrives in our inner world to strengthen those higher qualities, whether for the sake of accomplishing good in the world or for progress on the spiritual path.

As postmodern practitioners, we usually prefer to take a gentler attitude toward our dark side. Most of us long ago rejected authoritarian religion, with its talk of sin and insistence on eliminating the darker forces within us.

If we are practitioners of a path that emphasizes our innate goodness, we might prefer to ignore the negative qualities in the self on the principle that fighting the ego only strengthens it. If we’re psychodynamically oriented, we might be interested in bringing our shadow qualities into the light so we can integrate the power tied up in anger or greed or pride. If we are walking a nondual path, we may feel that all struggle has to be given up, since everything is ultimately one.

See also Slow Flow: Learn to Live from Love with a Brahma Vihara

All these approaches are useful, some on the level of personality, others as part of the practice for enlightenment. But there are moments when the only way to put our narcissism in its place is with a sword—the sword of wisdom wielded by a warrior who takes no prisoners. This is Durga’s role, whether she is operating in the outer world or the inner world.

In my life, the energy of the warrior goddess with her upraised sword shows up to remind me to get my striving, performance-oriented ego out of the way so that the deeper power can unfold my life according to her evolutionary imperative. Durga, in my inner world, is the unstoppable energy of spiritual growth. When I resist that, I often encounter an unexpected setback. She might get in my face as a kind of cosmic “No!” to my personal agendas—and then manifest as the deeper awakening that follows when I am able to let them go.

Over the years, I’ve been through this cycle often. At times, egoic illusions grow bigger, pile up, and take over my world—until, like a river in springtime, they become so swollen that they must come bursting forth. Then, nearly always, I hear the roar of the goddess’s lion sounding through my dreams.

Perhaps Durga shows up to guide me through an impasse. Maybe I’ll make some horrific mistake, and she’ll appear to help me navigate the consequences. More and more, I’ve learned in those moments to bow to her in order to spare myself the pain that comes from resistance to the shakti’s agenda for my growth.

Whenever you feel yourself caught in one of those moments—when your personal will seems blocked by immovable obstacles—consider that it might be a signal from the shakti. Then, try sitting for a few minutes in meditation and using your imagination to bring yourself into the presence of Durga.

Connect with the goddess Durga through breath work and meditation.

Finding Your Ferocity with Durga

One of the most powerful practices for connecting with the goddess is to imagine that with each inhalation, you draw in her loving, protecting, empowering energy, and with each exhalation you breathe her energy through your body. As in so much yoga practice, the breath is the bridge between our physical self and the subtle energies of the invisible worlds. When you invoke Durga, you may very well feel her as a heightened energy. But connecting to Durga’s energy is just as likely to result in a subtle feeling of greater insight, in a feeling of being supported with strength to carry on during a hard time, or in the strategic instinct that helps you win your battles. This can happen so subtly that it’s only in hindsight that you realize you were being supported. And this can happen in surprising ways.

Sasha, a lawyer and the mother of two girls, first discovered the Durga shakti when her daughter Lee began failing in school. It turned out that Sasha’s husband, Lee’s father, was engaging his daughter sexually. Sasha vowed that, whatever it took, she would protect her daughters. She filed for divorce, insisting that her husband not be allowed unsupervised visits with their girls. He fought hard for joint custody, deploying a high-powered legal team. (Though a lawyer herself, Sasha’s field is wills and trusts, and she had never litigated.)

In the midst of this, Sasha took a class I was teaching on the goddesses. She felt an immediate affinity for Durga and created a meditation in which she imagined Durga’s strength inside her own body. She would visualize each of Durga’s eight arms holding a particular power. In one hand, she imagined the power to use words skillfully. In another, the power to read financial statements with care. In another, the skill to face down her husband’s lawyers. She imagined all of Durga’s weapons as energies empowering her to protect her two daughters.

See also Goddess Yoga Project: Defeat Fear With Sword Breath

She won the case and, soon afterward, realized that an enormous weight had been lifted from Lee. The fact that Sasha had fought on her daughter’s behalf seemed to give the teenager a sense of purpose and a new understanding of her own feminine strength.

Like Sasha, any one of us can tune into our personal Durga strength by invoking the goddess’s energy and wisdom. As you do, you’ll likely discover your personal capacity for warrior-style leadership. Anyone in touch with her inner Durga will naturally create zones of protection around the people in her life. (Durga is also an effortless multitasker, like a mother who manages three children while cooking a five-course meal—or an executive running a team of diverse employees.)

The Durga woman makes space for people to flourish, fighting their battles when needed—as Sasha did for her daughters—but she is just as likely to push them into fighting for themselves.

Answer Durga’s Call to Lead

One way to feel a sense of the Durga shakti is to remember a moment when you recognized, from the deepest place inside you, that something was wrong, that it had to change. If that recognition comes from the Durga shakti, it goes beyond mere frustration or cognitive awareness of a social problem. Durga’s transformative power carries a conviction that comes from deep inside the body, and with it often comes a sense of “Now!”—meaning the time is now. When that sense is strong enough, it is followed by action. You will put your body and your speech on the line to change the situation, whether it’s internal or external.

One of my Durga friends in Los Angeles noticed that her son’s asthma was activated when local crops were being sprayed for pests. She organized a group of mothers to protest aerial spraying in her area, and after several years, the group not only had it banned in Los Angeles, but also had the pesticide removed from circulation entirely. Now, along with her day job as a psychotherapist, she runs an environmental group focused on lobbying against airborne pesticides.

The same power of purposeful action can be invoked when you need the will to change a deep-seated habit or addiction, to carve out time for practice, or to follow an inner calling. The Durga shakti can give you the power to face parts of yourself that stand in the way of your evolution, but she can also show you how to speak up for yourself when you need to ask for a raise, face a challenge, or take on a difficult responsibility—in short, to set things right.

The more you invite Durga’s energy into your life, the more you’ll feel her opening you to your inner warrior. Her power guards your highest aspirations, and she promises never to let you down.

See also 5 Ways to Tap Into Your Inner Leader (and Stay True to Yourself)

About the Author Sally Kempton is an internationally recognized teacher of meditation and yoga philosophy and the author of Meditation for the Love of It. Find her at sallykempton.com.

This piece originally appeared in the June 2013 issue of Yoga Journal and is adapted from Sally Kempton’s book, Awakening Shakti: The Transformative Power of the Goddesses of Yoga (Sounds True, 2013).

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#Namaste Blog #philosophy #Yoga 101 #yoga classes #yoga poses #Yoga Exercises

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thesparringring · 8 years ago

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Catharsis (a personal post)

Hey. So, uhm. I feel like shit. Like fucking shit. Long story short for some context: I live in a farm in the outskirts of a city. The area used to be rural, until some decisions (not notified to the neighbours and those who live here) made by the Town Hall changed the law and the area became an industrial one, instead of rural. Which meant: - two highly polluting companies setting up their monstrous factories three blocks from here I live - oil derivatives spilled into the most superficial water source underground - a girl dying from cancer, most likely caused by pollution, since she lived very close to one of the factories - more than one case of asthma and ot her respiratory diseases - subsequent complaints and protests by neighbours who had seen this coming and had started to fill out complaints and tried to fruitlessly take the case to trial - one of the factories (the most polluting one) closing off, but with still some probabilities of (let's hope not) taking up their activity soon. But this is not what has me like this (teary, hopeless, helpless, restless, in despair and pain and anguish). After a lot of fighting, the neighbours managed the town hall to pass a law which said it was strictly forbidden to place more polluting factories here. Little did we know, we had been fooled. The law ONLY applies to the street I live in, and the subsequent two parallel streets. The town hall wants to install an industrial park in the following street. You know what that means? Smoke and polluting agents travel through the air guys. Two blocks, three blocks, that makes no difference. We thought we were relatively safe. We're not. My home is a paradise, guys. I can't express just how helpless I feel. My mom says the only way to change this is by moving out. Argentina is not a democracy. It's just a shit country where citizens do not have a fucking say. Politicians won't listen. Politicians don't care. They only care the money they get in their pockets. Because, mind you, they WILL get money out of this, you can be sure. Bribes, most likely. I proposed to make a complaint, to give leaflets to everyone we come across, that we start a neighbours organization to stop this, that we take this to trial, that we make a manifestation outside the town hall. Mom agrees, but thinks it's fruitless. It was fruitless before. It may work for a while, but eventually the town hall will do whatever the hell they want. It's all about the money here. All about the fucking money. I wish they were stranded in a fucking island with nothing to eat and no water to drink and aaaaaaall their money. What can they do, eh? Shove it up their asses real good. I don't want to move out guys. I don't want to leave my HOME. I don't want to be displaced. I don't want to leave behind the very house my whole family and I spent so long building. I don't want to leave the trees we planted together, the birds that chirp outside of my window in the morning, the big pond my dad had made to place his water plants and which makes him so happy, the place where my dog is buried, the tree that I planted on my mare's memory. The orange tree that my Nonno gave us and which took him so long to find because it was the kind of bitter orange he likes and can't find in groceries. My childhood, my teenage years, my room which has seen me grow up. I don't want to leave all this for a fucking bulldozer to destroy it, to bring it and the trees that mean so much to me crumbling to pieces, to desctroy the bird's nests and the lizard's caves. How will know that in the winter a hummingbird comes and stays over 'cause it knows that one of our plants has flowers? Who will know that we know spring has started when it leaves? Who will know all the hard work it tok to turn a piece of land into a home, a place for people and animals and plants to coexist in peace? I don't want a fucking bulldozer to wipe out everything that makes me happy to be alive. If my house is a paradise, why must everything that surrounds it be hell?

#I'm sorry I posted this here #I needed to express this somewhere #I just can't stop crying #I'm sorry if they're typos or misspellings #I wrote this all at once and I'm not re-reading it

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cedarrrun · 6 years ago

Link

This legendary goddess can help empower your aspirations and call forth the leader within.

The warrior goddess Durga can help you find the leader within. Here's how to call on her when you need to feel empowered.

See also 5 Yoga Teachers Who Overcame Addiction

Bring Goddess Power Into Your Meditation Practice with Durga

See also A 90-Minute Yoga Playlist to Awaken Your Inner Warrior

Learn how to tap into your inner strength with Durga.

Durga Slaying demons

See also Oh My Goddess: Invoking Your Inner Feminine Energy

“Lady, you are either mad or suicidal,” says the major-domo. “No one has ever defeated my masters.”

“You said that you would fight my army single-handed,” shouts Shumbha in a voice so loud it shakes the nearby hills to powder. “But you had helpers. Your challenge is forfeit.”

See also The Goddess Every Vinyasa Flow Fan Must Know

How to use Durga to let go of ego

See also Slow Flow: Learn to Live from Love with a Brahma Vihara

Connect with the goddess Durga through breath work and meditation.

Finding Your Ferocity with Durga

See also Goddess Yoga Project: Defeat Fear With Sword Breath

The Durga woman makes space for people to flourish, fighting their battles when needed—as Sasha did for her daughters—but she is just as likely to push them into fighting for themselves.

Answer Durga's Call to Lead

The more you invite Durga’s energy into your life, the more you’ll feel her opening you to your inner warrior. Her power guards your highest aspirations, and she promises never to let you down.

See also 5 Ways to Tap Into Your Inner Leader (and Stay True to Yourself)

About the Author Sally Kempton is an internationally recognized teacher of meditation and yoga philosophy and the author of Meditation for the Love of It. Find her at sallykempton.com. This piece originally appeared in the June 2013 issue of Yoga Journal and is adapted from Sally Kempton’s book, Awakening Shakti: The Transformative Power of the Goddesses of Yoga (Sounds True, 2013).

#sleep sounds #sleep music #white noise app #nature sounds #relaxing sounds #rain sounds for sleeping

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chocolate-brownies · 6 years ago

Text

How to Channel Durga During Challenging Times

How to Channel Durga During Challenging Times:

This legendary goddess can help empower your aspirations and call forth the leader within.

The warrior goddess Durga can help you find the leader within. Here’s how to call on her when you need to feel empowered.

See also 5 Yoga Teachers Who Overcame Addiction

Bring Goddess Power Into Your Meditation Practice with Durga

See also A 90-Minute Yoga Playlist to Awaken Your Inner Warrior

Learn how to tap into your inner strength with Durga.

Durga Slaying demons

See also Oh My Goddess: Invoking Your Inner Feminine Energy

“Lady, you are either mad or suicidal,” says the major-domo. “No one has ever defeated my masters.”

“You said that you would fight my army single-handed,” shouts Shumbha in a voice so loud it shakes the nearby hills to powder. “But you had helpers. Your challenge is forfeit.”

See also The Goddess Every Vinyasa Flow Fan Must Know

How to use Durga to let go of ego

See also Slow Flow: Learn to Live from Love with a Brahma Vihara

Connect with the goddess Durga through breath work and meditation.

Finding Your Ferocity with Durga

See also Goddess Yoga Project: Defeat Fear With Sword Breath

The Durga woman makes space for people to flourish, fighting their battles when needed—as Sasha did for her daughters—but she is just as likely to push them into fighting for themselves.

Answer Durga’s Call to Lead

The more you invite Durga’s energy into your life, the more you’ll feel her opening you to your inner warrior. Her power guards your highest aspirations, and she promises never to let you down.

See also 5 Ways to Tap Into Your Inner Leader (and Stay True to Yourself)

0 notes

krisiunicornio · 6 years ago

Link

This legendary goddess can help empower your aspirations and call forth the leader within.

The warrior goddess Durga can help you find the leader within. Here's how to call on her when you need to feel empowered.

See also 5 Yoga Teachers Who Overcame Addiction

Bring Goddess Power Into Your Meditation Practice with Durga

See also A 90-Minute Yoga Playlist to Awaken Your Inner Warrior

Learn how to tap into your inner strength with Durga.

Durga Slaying demons

See also Oh My Goddess: Invoking Your Inner Feminine Energy

“Lady, you are either mad or suicidal,” says the major-domo. “No one has ever defeated my masters.”

“You said that you would fight my army single-handed,” shouts Shumbha in a voice so loud it shakes the nearby hills to powder. “But you had helpers. Your challenge is forfeit.”

See also The Goddess Every Vinyasa Flow Fan Must Know

How to use Durga to let go of ego

See also Slow Flow: Learn to Live from Love with a Brahma Vihara

Connect with the goddess Durga through breath work and meditation.

Finding Your Ferocity with Durga

See also Goddess Yoga Project: Defeat Fear With Sword Breath

The Durga woman makes space for people to flourish, fighting their battles when needed—as Sasha did for her daughters—but she is just as likely to push them into fighting for themselves.

Answer Durga's Call to Lead

The more you invite Durga’s energy into your life, the more you’ll feel her opening you to your inner warrior. Her power guards your highest aspirations, and she promises never to let you down.

See also 5 Ways to Tap Into Your Inner Leader (and Stay True to Yourself)

#sleep sounds #sleep music #white noise app #nature sounds #relaxing sounds #rain sounds for sleeping

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amyddaniels · 6 years ago

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How to Channel Durga During Challenging Times

This legendary goddess can help empower your aspirations and call forth the leader within.

The warrior goddess Durga can help you find the leader within. Here's how to call on her when you need to feel empowered.

See also 5 Yoga Teachers Who Overcame Addiction

Bring Goddess Power Into Your Meditation Practice with Durga

See also A 90-Minute Yoga Playlist to Awaken Your Inner Warrior

Learn how to tap into your inner strength with Durga.

Durga Slaying demons

See also Oh My Goddess: Invoking Your Inner Feminine Energy

“Lady, you are either mad or suicidal,” says the major-domo. “No one has ever defeated my masters.”

“You said that you would fight my army single-handed,” shouts Shumbha in a voice so loud it shakes the nearby hills to powder. “But you had helpers. Your challenge is forfeit.”

See also The Goddess Every Vinyasa Flow Fan Must Know

How to use Durga to let go of ego

See also Slow Flow: Learn to Live from Love with a Brahma Vihara

Connect with the goddess Durga through breath work and meditation.

Finding Your Ferocity with Durga

See also Goddess Yoga Project: Defeat Fear With Sword Breath

The Durga woman makes space for people to flourish, fighting their battles when needed—as Sasha did for her daughters—but she is just as likely to push them into fighting for themselves.

Answer Durga's Call to Lead

The more you invite Durga’s energy into your life, the more you’ll feel her opening you to your inner warrior. Her power guards your highest aspirations, and she promises never to let you down.

See also 5 Ways to Tap Into Your Inner Leader (and Stay True to Yourself)

0 notes

remedialmassage · 6 years ago

Text

How to Channel Durga During Challenging Times

This legendary goddess can help empower your aspirations and call forth the leader within.

The warrior goddess Durga can help you find the leader within. Here's how to call on her when you need to feel empowered.

See also 5 Yoga Teachers Who Overcame Addiction

Bring Goddess Power Into Your Meditation Practice with Durga

See also A 90-Minute Yoga Playlist to Awaken Your Inner Warrior

Learn how to tap into your inner strength with Durga.

Durga Slaying demons

See also Oh My Goddess: Invoking Your Inner Feminine Energy

“Lady, you are either mad or suicidal,” says the major-domo. “No one has ever defeated my masters.”

“You said that you would fight my army single-handed,” shouts Shumbha in a voice so loud it shakes the nearby hills to powder. “But you had helpers. Your challenge is forfeit.”

See also The Goddess Every Vinyasa Flow Fan Must Know

How to use Durga to let go of ego

See also Slow Flow: Learn to Live from Love with a Brahma Vihara

Connect with the goddess Durga through breath work and meditation.

Finding Your Ferocity with Durga

See also Goddess Yoga Project: Defeat Fear With Sword Breath

The Durga woman makes space for people to flourish, fighting their battles when needed—as Sasha did for her daughters—but she is just as likely to push them into fighting for themselves.

Answer Durga's Call to Lead

The more you invite Durga’s energy into your life, the more you’ll feel her opening you to your inner warrior. Her power guards your highest aspirations, and she promises never to let you down.

See also 5 Ways to Tap Into Your Inner Leader (and Stay True to Yourself)

from Yoga Journal http://bit.ly/2EMMtrG

#Yoga Journal

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hoganandmaryjo · 7 years ago

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Ba Be National Park & Cat Ba Island, Vietnam

After 10 days in the busy city we were feeling restless and decided to head north to see the countryside, and with any luck, catch a glimpse of the sun. Northern Vietnam is supposed to be beautiful, so we decided to brave the cold temperatures that blanketed the whole region to do some exploring. Over the next few days we realized why so many choose to travel Vietnam by motorcycle - it is much easier to see the country on your own schedule.

We took a tourist bus from Hanoi to Ba Be National Park, a lake and surrounding countryside about five hours north. The bus stopped here and there, for errands or to pick up people standing on the side of the road, or for tea and green bean cakes. We booked a homestay right on the lakeside, and after the bus ride and a small boat transfer we were dropped off in a sleepy village on a misty lake in the mountains. The scenery was gorgeous with jutting, sharp mountains draped with trees and vegetation surrounding the calm lake.

The vibe of Ba Be was “off-season” and a little eerie with so few tourists around. There were just four of us at the homestay that night even though the place could hold fifty or so. Besides us, there was one other tourist we met earlier on the bus, along with one Irish expat English teacher from Hanoi who had rented a motorcycle for the Tet holiday to explore the North. Karaoke blared from nearby houses as the staff tried to entertain themselves during the winter, which added a mediocre soundtrack to what otherwise would have been a pretty peaceful scene.

A surprising highlight of Ba Be was the caves. We made fast friends with the other two tourists - Roger and Graham - and explored two enormous caves in a group. One we reached almost by accident, after finding a path leading into the forest from a road in the village, and the other we reached by boat. Both were huge, with rivers flowing through them from deep in the earth. Huge, fat stalactites hung from the top, and we walked up and down the stairs that had been built into the walls while clapping and whistling to hear our echoes. We were practically alone - the benefit of going in off season. The distorted roofs of the caves were contrasted by the smooth water and underground beaches below, and in some parts, sounds of thousands of bats filtered down from the darkness. We walked underneath with some trepidation.

Ba Be is home to many ethnic minorities, who live in the mountains in small steep villages connected by a rough trail. From our homestay, we hiked a couple miles east to reach one and see people working, farming, and riding their mopeds on the steepest, rockiest paths imaginable. The hike was a welcome relief from the homestay and the cold, and we worked up a sweat climbing up to the village. We walked in a valley past buffalo and rice fields, water wheels turning in the river, kids on bikes and women wearing traditional, colorful clothing (in one case, a hooked machete attached to her back in a leather holster). From our point of view it was a window into another time, with the addition of mopeds. The views from the village were expansive. We stopped on the path for a snack of hot tea and cookies before turning back to reach the homestay before dark.

Did we mention how cold it was? Ba Be is a summer town, and the homestay is not built for warmth. Thin walls, outdoor hallways and common spaces kept us chilly and in layers. The grey misty mountains, while beautiful, made us dream of a fireplace or at least a warm cafe. (MaryJo enjoyed a hairdryer one night - truly a luxury!)

Despite the cold, we conspired to make change with our fellow travelers and got excited about seeing more of the North. Graham was heading to Cao Bang on his rented bike - a gateway to an amazing waterfall on the border with China. We, along with Roger, arranged to take a bus to Cao Bang to see it for ourselves, weather be damned! At least that was the intention when we agreed to take a local bus that left at 5:30 a.m., traveling south for two hours before transferring to a bus heading in the correct direction: northeast.

A couple factors constrained our trip. First of all, it was Tet, or Vietnamese New Year. The largest holiday of the year, most people take two weeks off and head home to be with family and relax. The dispersal from greater Hanoi is apparently one of the largest annual human migrations in the world. Tet had been affecting our trip since we got to Vietnam, but was much more obvious in the more rural North and as it got closer to the 16th of February - the Lunar New Year, the day of the largest celebration. Shops were closed, bus routes were truncated and combined. The country was winding down, people were preparing traditional holiday food (we had some good candied tomatoes on the side of the road) and taking a break from their daily lives. The second constraint should have been obvious with a little planning. It’s hard to travel east when valleys run north-south. Maybe there would have been a bus running directly to Cao Bang during a normal time of the year, but it’s hard to guess. During Tet there certainly wasn’t. And when we boarded the mini-bus at 5:30 a.m., we learned that our two-hour diversion south was actually four hours, putting us only an hour outside Hanoi where we had started.

We slid into our seats on the bus in the dark, stacking our baggage in the row behind us. The bus already had a few other people on it, and was helmed by a driver and a woman in a yellow jacket and a pink beret who opened and closed the door and handled the money. The best way to describe this experience is by imagining the exact opposite of rural America. Instead of wide open spaces, endless roads, gigantic farms, and private transportation, this packed little bus wove a lifeline between houses, markets, people, farms, and villages. Both of us, but Hogan in particular, watched with astonishment the organic way in which the bus stopped for passengers and goods, and the wide variety of things that were loaded on and off of the bus. That, and the slide guitar-style Vietnamese pop music playing on the radio as the sun rose over the countryside, made this an unforgettable overland journey. By the time the bus dropped us at the depot four hours south of our starting point, we shared the vehicle with countless people and families getting on and off, packages, sacks of rice and grain, mail, vegetables, leaky coolers carrying who knows what, one man who was sick out the window, and a very large live pig in a bag that sounded like it knew what was coming.

During our four hour journey, we had a change of heart. We only had a short amount of time left in Vietnam, and didn’t want to spend it traveling up and down the valleys because of altered bus schedules during Tet. That, and we didn’t want to spend it being cold. We decided to go south to Cat Ba Island, just outside of the famous Halong Bay. It would surely be warmer there, and maybe a little livelier and sunny as well.

Almost no one on the bus spoke English, but with the help of the guy sitting behind us (not the puking man) and Google Translate, we were able to communicate that we wanted to go further South to Hanoi instead of North to Cao Bang. “Hanoi,” the woman with the beret smiled after she figured out what we wanted. The whole bus smiled and chattered - maybe poking fun at us, maybe not - after it was settled where we were going. We were, after all, now a tight-knit group of travelers having endured the bumps and pig squeals along the way.

Turns out, it is very easy to change your mind. Upon arrival at a bus station, we realized we could probably get straight to Halong Bay instead of going through Hanoi as we had just agreed to on the bus. One more negotiation via Google Translate and we were on our way to Cat Ba in a more direct route! Another six hour bus ride (a bigger, nicer bus), and we were dumped in a sleepy, touristy port neighborhood, ready to get to Cat Ba Island the next day on the public ferry. On the second bus we cancelled our homestays in the North and booked a new one on the South. Our new homestay was run by Mr. Lan, who welcomed us into the modern looking building with great enthusiasm. He invited us to dinner with him and the other guests - one American man living in Shanghai with his Brazilian wife, and a Hungarian man recovering from an accident on Mr. Lan’s motorcycle. Dinner was delicious - traditional holiday food - and plenty of homemade rice wine on the house. We stumbled up to our room hours later after long conversations with Mr. Lan and guests. Truly a surreal end to a long day.

At Mr. Lan’s advice, we picked up a simple breakfast at a bakery next door, one of the only places open, and pulled our bags the quarter mile to the ferry terminal where we would take the boat to Cat Ba Island. The Cat Ba ferry is a very large boat that can hold cars and motorbikes. While we ate our morning buns and drank ferry terminal coffee, more experienced travelers showed up on their mopeds or motorcycles, pulling in right next to the turnstiles past our cafe seating and waiting on their bikes to board. The ferry has a permanent ramp that displaces water when in motion, and slides up onto the concrete ramp when docking. It seems like it puts a lot of drag on the boat but then again, what’s the hurry?

It was still grey with poor visibility in Cat Ba, but as we approached Ha Long bay the immense limestone islands iconic to the region came into view. These were the same kinds of limestone mountains we saw in Ba Be, this time with a higher water level. The ferry wove through the vertical islands and we snapped photos and enjoyed the ride. At the terminus we shared a taxi across the island to the main town and checked into our hotel right on the main drag along the water, taking notice of the two story television screen across the street.

Cat Ba is a touristy place and there were many signs advertising “pizza” or “french fries.” The food wasn’t as good as Hanoi and the prices were higher (in Vietnam this means paying $4 for a meal vs $2), but we were outraged nonetheless and determined to avoid it. Enter the Doner Kebab, which we ate no less than five times during the four days we were there. This all purpose sandwich (made of fresh scrambled eggs, spit-roasted pork, and shredded carrots and onions topped with hot sauce, fish sauce, and mayonnaise) was being sold out of a couple different carts on the street along the main strip. We found the best one and stuck to it, paying $2 for two sandwiches.

Beyond the kebabs, we continued our pursuit of strong Vietnamese coffee. We found some nutty, hot, fresh coffee with condensed milk at a roadside restaurant. It was one of the best cups of coffee we had. So much so, we scooted back for seconds on our last day on the island.

We spent the Lunar New Year on the island, and everyone was out celebrating. Plastic chairs were set up in front of the big TV screen and stage for dancers, drummers, and a variety show on TV to kick the night off. The evening revelry ended at midnight with a fireworks show - right outside our hotel window.

We enjoyed exploring the island and its surrounding waters, too. One day we rented a scooter - finally! - and Hogan drove us around the island to hike in the National Park. A steep hike up, we got more views of the landscape and a nice workout. We also took a boat tour to explore Lan Ha Bay, which has the same geography as Halong Bay without the same amount of boat traffic and tourists. We spent the day on a boat with 20-30 other people. First stop was Monkey Island, which is home to monkeys who have learned big boats of tourists with food come to the island every morning. The monkeys were aggressive (we were warned of bites), and we watched from afar while they fought amongst themselves and competed for food from the less cautious people. Next stop was kayaking through the limestone karsts, which we really enjoyed despite our skepticism at getting in kayaks initially (it was grey and we weren’t dressed for it). We raced the other kayakers and Hogan steered us through a low cave into an open, secluded bowl of water. Lots of trash and dirty water while we kayaked, but it was still enjoyable. Lastly, the boat took us to the floating village right outside of Cat Ba mainland, where fisherman live in floating houses with dogs barking at the captured live fish. On our own time, we visited Cannon Fort, a defensive compound from the American war where the rusty guns were manned by fake Vietnamese soldiers for effect, and we could walk through the reinforced trenches that faced the bay. Another peculiar reminder of our countries’ shared history.

The clouds broke one evening and we caught a glimpse of a sunset, reminding us why we had fled south in the first place. Cat Ba was certainly warmer than Ba Be, but was blanketed by the same grey gloom which seeped into every experience. The weather began affecting our moods: we were restless. It appeared that the entirety of Northern Vietnam was covered in clouds so dense that light was diffused to a glow even during the middle of the day. A few days in Cat Ba were all we needed to see the sights, and we decided to press on in search of better weather to finish our time in Vietnam. We quickly booked a series of buses, boats, and flights, and traveled back to Hanoi en route to Central Vietnam. A quick stop for beers and sweet potato fries, and we were on our way.

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