In case you were wondering why I stopped writing…

My dad always used to tease us: “You only get so many words!”

Perhaps he wanted peace and quiet, or he was genuinely encouraging us to slow down and choose our words wisely.

Now in the Age Of AI where people are churning out endless streams of constant commentary (not to mention the bots that are hard at work too), my dad’s urging to not make noise for the sake of noise feels like something we should all rally around. I don’t know about you, but I am drowning in the sheer volume of information, and I don’t like it one bit.

So, at the start of the New Year I got quiet.

Real Quiet.

The kind of quiet that takes you closer to what is Sacred. Closer to Truth.

Maybe I’ll write about it someday. Maybe I won’t.

The impulse I once had to make a mark had been replaced by one to not add to the ever growing noise.

Ironically, in the months since I paused publishing articles and sending newsletters, I’ve gained more subscribers and attendance at my classes grew!

Once an enthusiastic leader of kirtan (call-and-response musical chanting), I fell silent. And in that stillness I grew closer to the heart of mantra that beats inside of me. Although I missed my kirtan community, I felt like maybe this chapter had closed. I accepted that music could be over for me.

And then one day it returned out of the blue and asked to be shared. So here I am, making noise again…

• Sunday, April 26 10:00-11:00am at Unitarian Universalist Church of Annapolis

  • Piscataway Room, 333 Dubois Road, Annapolis MD 21401

  • Arrive early to join the UU meditation group if you wish from 9-10am

  • Walk-ins welcome - open to the public. Donations to the church are gratefully accepted.

• Saturday, May 9 7:00-8:30pm at The Yoga Barn

  • 44 W Earleigh Heights Road, Severna Park MD 21146

  • At this Mother’s Day Weekend “Chants for Ma” we’ll gather to sing sacred names that evoke the many faces of Ma: loving, wise, fiercely protective, and ever present. Through chanting in shared devotion, we make space to honor The Mother within, The Mothers who shaped us, and the Divine Feminine presence that holds it all.

  • Just show up! No tickets, no fee. No phones, no cameras.

If I ever go quiet again, I trust you know where to find me. Drop me a note, or better yet, get your butt on a mat. You can find all of my upcoming classes, workshops, and kirtans here and subscribe to my email newsletter to stay in the loop!

In closing I want to share where I go from here…

I have been a student of yoga for over 25 years. I used to think being a slow learner was a bad thing, but now I realize that by learning slow I learn deep. Most of my time as a practitioner has been to satisfy my need for yoga knowledge. I want to know yoga techniques and how to weave them together skillfully. I want to know how to grow and preserve that sweet sattvic feeling. My appetite for knowledge will never be satiated. There is a vast ocean of knowledge, and my brain is just a simple bucket.

Knowledge is information. The essential work for these strange times we’re living in isn’t acquiring more information. It’s cultivating wisdom.

Take water, for example. One can study and know information about water, like its chemical formula is H₂O and Dr, Masaru Emoto claims it can be influenced by human thoughts, words, music, and intentions. Wisdom is knowing when the rain is coming.

We don’t need to accumulate more facts and information the way we used to. If AI isn’t doing that for you yet, it may be in the years ahead. But at the same time, experts are predicting a collapse is on the horizon — a critical point where we won’t be able to discern whether we can believe what we see. I don’t think the collapse is going to appear as a single event, but rather we’re in the midst of the slide into it at this moment in time. To navigate life skillfully depends on the emergence of a new way of knowing.

I don’t know about you guys, but what I’m hungry for these days is gnosis — direct knowing that can be imitated but never duplicated by a machine. This is the return to what I like to call the original AI - our Ancient Intelligence. Perhaps it’s time to revise one of my most cherished quotes from Yoganand to: “The slow you go, the more you gno.”

Some of the links on this page are Amazon affiliate links, which means I’m selling my soul to Bezos in my quest to make a living as a yoga teacher I may earn a small commission if you click through and make a purchase. This comes at no additional cost to you. I only suggest products that I genuinely believe will bring value to you!