Greetings from Pune, India!

You can feel India the moment you step off the plane onto the jetway, as the soothing heat soaks right through its seams. Finally you get out of the sterile airport and into the pick-up area. Even though it's 2 in the morning, the airport is as packed and lively as high noon, the air smells musky and wraps around you like a cloak, and the sensory overstimulation has just begun. You squeeze yourself into a crowded car for the final leg of the journey, from the Mumbai airport to your apartment in Pune, only 200 km, but it takes a full 4 hours for reasons that only make sense in India.

I arrived at my sweet apartment I am sharing with several other yoga practitioners at 6:30am, determined to stay awake all day so I can get a full night of sleep and get quickly over jetlag. Soon, we walked down the street to the Iyengar Institute to register and practice.

BKS Iyengar, age 94 and regal, sat on a bench receiving arrivers with a generous grace. How do I describe the feeling of being in his presence? It's like driving down a road, turning a corner, and getting hit with a view of the ocean that takes your breath away: a sense of majesty, evoking a feeling of deep gratitude for having this opportunity.

This morning I enjoyed a delightful class with Devki Desai, who reminded us that just as we feel refreshed and ennobled when we enter a place of worship, or, I would add, a beautiful place in nature, we can experience that in asana. BKS Iyengar says "Alignment for Enlightenment," meaning that the purpose of all this attention to physical detail is to bring us to a state of clarity and luminescence. Devki asked us to make our legs not only intelligent, but wise. We spent a good half hour in Upavista Konasana, with respites in Baddha Konasana, before moving on to standing poses. Devki pointed out that Trikonasana can be a shrine for us, a place of ennoblement. Just as a walk along Lake Michigan can inspire and refresh us, so can an asana.

Let us create wisdom in our limbs, our organs, our nervous system, our digestion, and throughout our bodies. Let us make our bodies worthy of grace.

More later, namaste,
pkh

Opening My Heart to Grief and Joy

 

The countdown has begun. In 26 days I leave for India. Before I take off, my room will be packed up, and my years in Milwaukee will consist of a neat stack of boxes. I have given 6 boxes of writing, publications, notebooks, and correspondence to Milwaukee Public Library. Many of my personal belongings are now on “long-term indefinite loan” to friends, including my piano, my books, which will remain in the Eight Limbs Housing Co-op lending library, my hand-hewn kitchen table, artwork, dishes, and the little bit of furniture I own.

My room at 8LHC will be occupied by Iyengar Yoga student and budding teacher, Helena Fahnrich, who moves in January 31. Helena, Sara Arends Haggith, Tracey Radloff, and others, will be providing classes at Riverwest Yogashala come January. The tasks of running Yogashala will be assumed by the Board and the newly empowered committees. Our site manager will be Iyengar Yoga student and enthusiast, Hart Ford, and our newsletter editor, the multi-talented Iyengar Yoga teacher, mom, and writer, Jackie Lalley.

Detroit beckons. I will spend Christmas day there with my daughter Meiko, son Malachi who will be stateside after a semester in India, Grace Lee Boggs, and perhaps a few friends from both Milwaukee and Detroit. When I arrive around 5 February, I will move into an intentional community house owned by the Catholic Capuchins, with 3 of their volunteers, on the same block as the Boggs Center. I will serve as house manager in exchange for a room. I am scheduled to cook dinner for Grace every night.

My official farewell is Sunday, 3 February at Yogashala. I will offer a workshop, “Teachings From Pune,” sharing highlights from my month of study at the Iyengar Institute, from 2-4:30pm, followed by Riverwest Yogashala’s Annual Membership Party from 5-7pm, followed by an open house to drop by and share a hug. Before that, I am trying to schedule a house concert for you all to hear the songs that have been pouring forth this Fall, with my collaborators, especially Jess Vega.

How do I feel about all of this? A few days ago, I was practicing Urdhva Dhanurasana, listening to Meklit Hadero, and in between repetitions of the pose, just letting the tears flow. I am flabbergasted at the depth of change I am choosing. I am frustrated at the work left undone in Milwaukee. I am scared of letting go so profoundly. I am heartbroken about leaving friends who have shaped me, taught me so much, given immeasurably to me, and have graciously welcomed what I can offer.

At the same time, I am thrilled to be leaving for study in India, where I can focus and give myself much-needed self-care to develop my yoga practice, live simply, and transition to my new life. I eagerly anticipate my life in Detroit, studying weekly with Laurie Blakeney, seeing Grace daily, and spending time with Meiko, my soul sister Marcia Lee, and others. I look forward to radically streamlining my life, taking a break from full-time teaching, and taking time to read, write, cook, and create. My goal in Detroit is to Not Be Busy. We shall see how long that lasts, but even a few weeks or months of this will do my spirit much good.

I plan to be back in Milwaukee for Riverwest Yogashala’s Spring Equinox 108 Surya Namaskar, when I will also teach workshops. You will not be totally rid of me. Through the tears, working on my tight upper back and shoulders, I open my heart to the coming weeks and months with both grief and joy.

BURQA

Peggy in "Change+ing Room," at Fahimeh Vahdat's exhibit, October 2012

  

remove glasses and

slip under black cloak

I peer through a slit

pressing down on thick eyelids

            inside mother’s protective womb

            cushioned in layers of fluid, muscle, bony pelvis, skin

            you cannot see me but I hear you

            hear everything

in silent blackout

breath condenses

under synthetic silk

           

            forming heart, lungs, ovaries

            limbs curled into trunk

walking through a crowd

space clears for me

like a road opens for an ambulance

            you do not know what I will become

            you do not know the generations of women’s rage I embody

            to you I am a bump yet unconscious

sensing my silent steps

conversation stops

sitting still I become invisible

eavesdrop on the last time I was in Turkey

and dinner plans

downtown or third ward?

            gestational I am carrier

            of my grandmother’s untold stories

            the egg that would hatch me

            formed in her womb

            as she carried my mother

eyes glance then dart away           

better to not look

an unspoken complicity

let’s not talk to her

            what lengths will you take to ignore me?

            what would I reveal given the chance?

            what threat does the curve of my hips present?

            clavicles, cleavage, clitoris?

           

cloaked and alone

in the eye of my own churning hurricane

I must hide my hands under black cloth

afraid of what they will commit

           

 

EMBRACING IMPERMANENCE

 

summary of my past weekend in detroit, with thanks to meiko, marcia, robby, colette, erin, nerissa, jess, grace, shea, and shout out to mary oliver

be outside at dusk to watch the first stars appear

make this your nightly prayer

as you step out of the car

lost on highway 23

a shooting star from leo soars directly overhead

a million eyes in the sky

now you can gaze back at the stars

that watch you as they always do

they ask:

what will you do with your one wild and precious life?

let your uterus speak

your kidneys and lungs

your perimenopausal thyroid and pineal glands

let your ears ring when you dance in front of the woofer

you will lose your hearing one day anyway

just as you will lose everything

your mother’s silverware

your father’s publications

the burden of your reputation

stomp it underfoot on the concrete dance floor

promote shamelessness

as a step into the emergence of interconnected self

infuriate as many people as you inspire

move to detroit so you can throw away your bras

to embrace the reality of 49 year old breasts

spent on nourishing your young

choose what is most impermanent

like stir-fried vegetables for grace

on a tray carried to her house each night at 5

value what is most ephemeral

snow melting before it touches the sidewalk

tail of the meteor disappearing into night sky

boycott the media and create your own news

by learning ukulele and writing songs

fill your car with drums, your kombucha jug and record albums

leave everything else behind

forsake the sham of middle class security

your 401K, health insurance, a pension

spend your savings on avocados, limes, and mixed greens

make guacamole your new currency

place yourself at the mercy of strangers

cross double yellow lines to make u-turms on train tracks

after all it’s never too late

let your phone battery die and rely on telepathy

stand on your head and gaze out the window

at bare trees older than your house that needs tuckpointing

listen to the foghorns detroit sunday dawn

if the stars can fall

                                    no problem

                                                            so can you

pkh 18 November 2012

WORM BY WORM

for Milwaukee, Growing Power, Will Allen, and all our local farmers

in 21^st century post-industrial milwaukee

city of foreclosures and soaring joblessness

the earth calls us forth to heal her

she’s been paved over, toxins dumped, trees sheared away

with emptied houses

closed schools

lunch programs cut

where is her silver spring?

industrialized then abandoned

we remake the earth

worm by worm

black gold

new earth smells like morning

like renewal

smells like community

ingesting all that we have discarded

the worms welcome it all

tree pulp beaten and bleached into paper

processed foods moldering and slimy

throw-aways of our material world

wriggling red worms

like the earth coming alive

the earth has been waiting for us to come and renew her

withstanding temporary devastation

by industry run amok

she knew we would return turn

turning over the compost pile

sift and sieve

nourishment everywhere

city hall gardens of mustard and cabbage

we walk through and graze during lunch hour

bovine, leaving hoofmarks of work shoes in the earth

beat your swords into plowshares

trade in your gun for a pitchfork

the weapon of choice

after all anyone can take life

but only the brave can make life

make kale and collards that survive the wisconsin winter

worm by redworm

polypropelene hoophouses the new native architecture

covering the milwaukee landscape

those who grow their own food

grow their own souls

families and communities

the worms teach us how to re-weave the fabric of community

neighborhood harvest parties

corn roasts

catch up on gossip at the local farmer’s market

worm by worm

mother earth’s revolutionaries

Letter to Milwaukee

  

Milwaukee friends, this is a letter I wrote to the Riverwest Yogashala community explaining what is coming up for me.  I hope you will engage in upcoming conversations about what is next. This is not farewell yet--you all come over for a party before I leave! p

Dear Riverwest Yogashala Community,

With an ache in my heart and a catch in my throat, I write to let you all know I will move to Detroit, MI in February 2013.

This is a move I have been contemplating for some time, and am finally committing to now. As an empty-nester, I am at a stage in my life where a major change is quite possible, and I have decided to take the leap.

As Riverwest Yogashala was preparing with Eight Limbs Housing Co-op to purchase a building this past summer, I committed to at least 3 more years in Milwaukee, which has been my home since 1987. During those 3 years, my plan was to transition Riverwest Yogashala from being founder-driven to more cooperatively run, and for 8LHC to become established.

However, when the seller withdrew, our purchase plans were cut short, and a door opened for a new plan to emerge. At first I was devastated. We had put so much time, energy, and resources into finding a building and funding it. But as I recovered from my disappointment, I began to see new possibilities.

First, I had to admit that I really needed a sabbatical. I have been teaching 10-14 classes/week since 2001, as well as raising 3 children, running a household, organizing for various activist causes, writing, serving as Milwaukee Poet Laureate in 2006-2007, running racial justice workshops, performing in theatre and vocal groups, giving poetry readings and workshops, and more.

Next, I had to be quiet and listen inwardly to what my soul and spirit were asking for. As I approach my 49^th birthday (my 7^th 7 year cycle!) I realize I am longing to nurture my own studentship. I need to step back from the many leadership roles I have taken on in Milwaukee, and vastly simplfiy my life. I long, as Mother Teresa urges us, to “do small things with great love.”

I have chosen Detroit because one of the people I admire most in the world, 97 year-old legendary activist Grace Lee Boggs, lives there. I plan to volunteer at the Boggs Center and learn anything I can from her as I offer whatever services may be needed in caregiving, cooking, organizing, etc. She is still quite sharp and vital and I would love to avail myself in any way.

Aside from Grace, Detroit overflows with visionaries, activists, social reformers, artists, and grassroots Do-It-Yourselfers. I have so much to learn there! Also, my eldest daughter, 26 year-old Meiko Krishok makes her home in Detroit. We are quite close and I look forward to spending more time with her.

One of my favorite Iyengar Yoga Senior Teachers lives in Ann Arbor, 50 miles from Detroit, Laurie Blakeney, whom many of you have met. I have never had weekly access to a Senior Teacher, and I’m thrilled at the prospect of studying with her regularly. Laurie’s depth of knowledge and experience over 30+ years of teaching will nourish my dedication to Iyengar Yoga and enrich my practice and teaching.

I am leaving Milwaukee and Riverwest Yogashala for a year or so of service, while learning at the feet of Grace, Laurie, and other wise Detroit elders. I will probably teach a little yoga, perhaps 2-3 classes/week. Housing plans are not set yet, but I have some prospects for living in intentional community on a barter basis.

I will stay in Detroit as long as I can be of use to Grace. The next stage of my life involves a 4-6 month stay in South Korea, where I lived until age 5, and where many family members live. In Korea, I plan to regain my fluency in the language, research my family history, especially regarding Japanese occupation and the Korean War, interview elders, and do a lot of writing.

When I return from Korea, I plan to make my next home in Oakland, CA. I have chosen Oakland because I have Iyengar Yoga friends there, access to Iyengar Senior Teacher Manouso Manos, a huge and diverse Asian American community, many like-minded radicals living outside the mainstream as in Detroit, plus avocado and lemon trees!

So, beloved Milwaukee community, I will bid farewell in December. I will complete the Fall Term. I will leave 30 December for a month’s study in Pune, India, with the Iyengar family. I will return 1 February, take a week or so to pack up and organize, and drive off to Detroit.

Let us make the most of our time together. I will pour my heart and soul into the best teaching I am capable of this fall. I will give everything I have to my mentees, who will serve you exceedingly well as they step up in responsibility. I am willling to come back on a regular basis to conduct teachers’ study groups, teach yoga workshops, and teach writing/movement (Embodied Voice) workshops as long as there is interest.

Meanwhile, I have full confidence in Lynn Celek, who, as you know, is an awesome teacher! Along with Lynn, other strong teachers will continue to teach at RY, and more are in the pipeline. However, exactly what RY will look like in 2013 is up to you. Please come to a community meeting on Sunday, 30 September, 4-6pm to discuss what is possible. We will provide snacks and you can too. RY’s future is in the hands of the community.

What I have received from all of you, over almost 10 years at Riverwest Yogashala, is immeasurable. You all have taught me how to be a teacher, and challenged me to be a better person. I am so richly blessed by all of you, and I will miss you.

Growing, learning, shifting, moving, with (G)race, and so so so much love,

peggy kwisuk hong

Calling All Visual Artists! Design a 49th Birthday "Brown Girl Dangerous" Tattoo for Peggy

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS 

DESIGN PEGGY’S 49^th BIRTHDAY TATTOO AND WIN A 6-WEEK UNLIMITED YOGA GIFT CERTIFICATE

Submissions due by October 25, 2012.

 

Is it time for me to get a tattoo? I have held off all these years because I could not think of anything I would want for posterity. But knowing that posterity may mean 20 or 30 years only, I think I can risk it. I have an idea that needs to be “fleshed out” by my visual artist friends.

“Brown Girl Dangerous” is my alter ego/inner superhero/spiritual warrior. I would like to have her tattooed on my left shoulder and upper arm. She need not be figurative but may be an abstract design.

Brown Girl Dangerous’s superpower is that she tells and lives the truth at all times, while being impervious to persecution and torture. She is perimenopausal, in a state of flux and transition, and her powers are getting stronger as she ages. She has not yet reached the peak of her powers. She is fearless because she knows she can never be hurt, and because she knows that truth, although it has the ability to both heal and destroy, in and of itself, is neutral.

BGD is dangerous because there are parties that depend on the denial and obfuscation of truth for their survival. She maintains a sharp edge because she has to defy these parties to do her job of living and telling the truth. BGD’s brownness puts her at odds with white supremacy. She identifies with the oppressed, marginalized, and persecuted, and lives out the truth as a revolutionary act to dismantle these structures. She knows that an individual’s act of resistance can disrupt a whole system and inspire an entire movement.

BGD is complex because the truth is multi-layered, problematic, shifting, and contextual. She has to encompass and embrace all of the messiness of truth. BGD’s vulnerability/weakness is that she has a poor sense of timing! She struggles with the best times to reveal the truth. Sometimes there is no good time.

BGD is maiden, mother, and crone. She is a girl warrior with irrepressible, daring energy. She is a mother, nurturer, and source of compassion. She is a crone, with nothing on earth to lose, and one foot in the spiritual world.

Are you getting some images, ideas, and inspiration? I hope so! Please, no anime characters. We like subtle, and abstract may be better than representational.  Show me what you got and drop off your design at 8LHC, 2474 N Booth, Milwaukee, WI 53212, or email to peggyhong@sbcglobal.net by October 25, 2012. I will get the tattoo done by my birthday on the 31st.

The artist of the selected design will be rewarded a 6-week unlimited pass into all of my yoga classes, from 1 November-15 December 2012.