LEE KLINGER LESSER
Newsletter - December 2007
Many warm greetings and wishes for this New Year,It is a sunny December morning in California….a contrast to many places in the country buried in snow. The ornamental plum trees outside my window are bare…leaves long fallen off…yet tiny buds are already beginning to appear, and in a month or two, the trees will burst into fragrant pink blossoms. For now, the roots are digging deep, looking for sustenance. I wonder how we are seeking sustenance in the midst of this time of transition, from the old year into a new one. As the year comes to an end and we dwell in the shortest days and darkest time of the year…I love the exploration of light in the midst of darkness. And I love the refuge and invitation that darkness offers. How do we travel down into the roots of our own lives and discover what calls to us? What needs attention? What needs nourishment to allow new growth to take place? Where do we need to stop, rest and reconnect? How can we contribute the best of ourselves?
Rilke said, “ If we surrendered to earth’s intelligence we could rise up rooted like trees.”
It is a good time to find our roots and to rise up rooted into what this New Year will bring. For me, the practice of Sensory Awareness grounds me and opens me into fresh possibilities. I continue to recognize and be grateful for what this practice gives to me, and the impact our own presence can have in a world very much in need of attention and care.
As I travel and work in many different places, I see over and over again the hunger in people for connection. And I see how Sensory Awareness practice can help to develop this connection through more attentiveness, clarity and presence. The power and impact of this practice was renewed for me when I gave three one day workshops in September in Mexico City at FHADI, a foundation for people with physical disabilities, most of whom are paraplegic and quadriplegic. Even in the face of so many daily challenges and limitations, the freedom that can come with each breath and touch is real and potent. Seeing people move from stressful effort and tension to the surprise and comfort of their own natural capacity was deeply moving to me. And this is what the work is about for each of us, no matter what our situation is…discovering how to be present and connected to our own innate responsiveness, moving beyond what limits or constricts us. The group photo shows some people who were in one of the workshops at FHADI. I am profoundly grateful for the opportunity to work with and learn from everyone I met there. They continue teaching me about the gift of each moment.
I have a very good friend named Jarvis Jay Masters who has lived as a prisoner on death row at San Quentin State Prison for over 25 years. (You can learn more about Jarvis at www.freejarvis.org) For all these years, he had not left the prison grounds. One day, he was taken to a local hospital for a medical exam. He described his experience to me in great wonder. As the car he was in drove along the street, he saw people walking or driving and they were all talking to themselves...or so it seemed at first. Gradually, he realized that they were speaking on cell phones. They seemed so preoccupied, busy and in a hurry to get somewhere. Very few people looked happy or engaged where they were. Coming from San Quentin the contrast was dramatic. Jarvis was so grateful and delighted by all he was seeing, and the people who were moving about in so-called freedom, were oblivious to what was around them.
How much of our lives do we move through without experiencing, because we are in too much of a hurry to get somewhere else? I know busyness well. I often have wrestling matches with all I want to accomplish, and the lack of time there is to do it. And yet in any moment, I can return to the gift of earth’s intelligence - I can return to my senses and to the breath that moves through me, bringing me directly into the moment and place that I am in. As we begin to recognize more fully the damage we are doing to our earth through our lack of consciousness, the need to surrender to earth’s intelligence and “return to our senses” is even more important. Sensory Awareness is all about “returning to our senses” in all aspects of its meaning.
I hope that in this coming year we can support each other to appreciate and live well the gifts of our lives, and to meet with energy and care the challenges that surround us.
Wishing you all the best,
Lee Klinger Lesser