Earth Day+ May Update and Being with Uncertainty

Early Am Yoga at Pomo Tierra in Knowing Our True Nature Outdoor Retreat
with Kirsten Rudestam and MP 4/9-4/13, 2025

Greetings one and all,

Happy Earth Day whenever you are reading this! Doesn’t look like it’s going to get a lot of press this year what with Wall Street crashing, and crazier and crazier news arriving in our feeds everyday. I have to say the experience of teaching and being part of this little retreat at my collective home alongside a wonderful meditation teacher Kirsten Rudestam, restored my equilibrium somewhat and I hope you too have ways to earth yourself literally and enjoy the glorious spring in your part of the world. And if you need a little nudge, here is a short meditation to invite you into the natural world for succour. We are planning a 2nd retreat in April 2026 - it was such a delight allround.

LOCALS! On 4/26, at Pomo Tierra we have our infamous Compost Party where we welcome our friends to come and help compost around the trees in bloom and share meals together. I am in charge of the Saturday lunch taco bar if anyone prefers kitchen to getting your hands in the dirt! Great to see locals and friends are welcome also! Let us know you are coming using this form. It really helps us to plan for the meals. As always you are welcome to camp in the orchard on Friday and/or Saturday night. Bring old clothes to work in, sun protection and a water bottle! Please leave your dogs at home.

So what’s up in 2025? We continue with the GIT program and the Yoga Salon and past recordings from GIT are available for purchase at the link below. The Early Bird fee for Spanish Spa retreat is extended to May 15 - we are almost there but need a couple more folks to formally confirm. And we do have 2 spots in the Summer Solstice retreat in Albion - today, I am chatting with the highly recommended local chef James about the details.

Summer Solstice Retreat 6/20-25 - We have one single glamping tent available and also one space for someone in a shared cabin or camping or in dorm. If you email me before 5/1, I am happy to give a $50 discount on those 2 last spaces.

Spa Retreat in Spain - 9/21-26 - Hotel discount for those registered.

Recordings for Purchase - Classes from Basics to Vinyasa to More Advanced, + workshops

2026:
4/22-26 Pomo Tierra Outdoor Meditation and Yoga Retreat, CA with Kirsten and MP

4/30 - 5/8 Gray Bear, TN - More info soon

EARTH DAY - 1970

Listen to a short interview with one of the key organizers of the first Earth Day

2025 reality check with Bill McKibben 7mins PBS

FREE MP Elements Meditation for Earth Day

Being with Uncertainty

THE COOKIE THIEF by Valerie Cox

A woman was waiting at an airport one night

with several long hours before her flight.

She hunted for a book in the airport shop,

bought a bag of cookies and found a place to drop.

She was engrossed in her book but happened to see

that the man beside her, as bold as could be,

grabbed a cookie or two from the bag between

which she tried to ignore to avoid a scene.

She munched cookies and watched the clock

as the gutsy cookie thief diminished her stock.

She was getting more irritated as the minutes ticked by

thinking, "If I wasn't so nice I'd blacken his eye."

With each cookie she took, he took one too!

When only one was left, she wondered what he'd do.

With a smile on his face and a nervous laugh,

he took the last cookie and broke it in half.

He offered her half as he ate the other,

She snatched it from him and thought, "OH Brother!"

This guy has some nerve and he's also rude.

Why, he didn't even show any gratitude.

She had never known when she had been so galled

And sighed with relief when her flight was called.

She gathered her belongings and headed to the gate

refusing to look back at that thieving ingrate.

She boarded the plane and sank in her seat

then sought her book which was almost complete.

As she reached in her baggage she gasped with surprise

there was her bag of cookies in front of her eyes.

If mine are here she moaned with despair,

then the others were his and he tried to share.

Too late to apologize, she realized with grief,

that she was the rude one, the ingrate, and the thief.

I was reminded of this wonderful poem in an equally wonderful dharma talk called the Seduction of Certainty by the Vipassna teacher Diana Clark. It brought to mind a few reflections on the uncertain times we are in and how we cling for certainty when everything is confusing, scarey, unpredictable. The poem also reminded me of moments when I have had to admit that I was completely wrong! about an opinion, a judgement, a prediction. So laughably refreshing to own one’s own dogged and distorted sense of “truth” and how challenging at times. It seems we are living in a nation of at least 50% who are still the proud owners of a devastating cookie crusher - but who knows I could be wrong about that too…..

Minority Rule - Adventures in the Culture War by Ash Sarkar is one of the books to emerge in this time of deep questioning on the political left. Sarkar critiques the more individualistic and separatist approach to politics and activism, which is exploited very successfully by the right and their sense of being victimized and overwhelmed by “identity politics”. Clearly the memes around DEI, gender rights, abortion, border issues were weaponized in the recent election and bore fruit. When we were campaigning in Nevada we heard again and again about TV ads that were constantly talking about Kamala wanting to give illegal immigrants in prison trans gender operations. It was a story taken totally out of context and terrified people and it worked!
”As a way of muddying the waters, dividing the working class and driving backlash against some of the cultural gains made by minorities, right wing elites have developed a strategy that I call the Minority Game”
Parts of her analysis have the right wing hopping mad and even some lefties but I found her arguments convincing particularly where she pins down journalists who demonized one particular group e.g.“white working class scroungers” and then a few years later extol the virtues of the very same group who are now being undermined by….fill in the blank minority. Her own experience of racism, growing up in a South Asian family in a poorer area of London, and the violent threats she has received from those who disagree with her perspective, indicates how our worst natures like to destroy someone who questions our own certainties.
Read the book or listen to an interview or 2.

For those who like to see the cookie as half there rather than half gone, and definitely not irrevocably broken, they may find inspiration in Ezra Klein’s and Derek Thompson’s new book “Abundance”, which is once again a call to rethink, energize and unite those that consider themselves democrats or on the moderate side. If you’ve been around the wellness and yoga world in the last 2 decades the word “abundance” has a bit of jaded ring to it and brings up images of commercialized spiritual enterprises using lingo reminiscent of The Secret, “If I dream big, I will get big” However, Klein and Townsend, clearly see their vision and dreams as far more dynamic and collective. They once again take to task the left, this time for its ineptitude at both getting practical things done, and also for not claiming victory when it’s actually justified.

These authors argue for a complete re-think of how we move towards change and specifically the urgency of creating more homes in an efficient sustainable way. They mention all the money that has been put into high speed rail, literally billions over decades, in California and there are still no tracks on the ground while China has soared ahead in the same time period and achieved 22,000 miles of track. Many would argue with their wish to deregulate or minimize the blockages however one cannot deny that affordable housing is needed and this need is driving democrats out of expensive blue states to more malleable red states in droves. In their visioning, they mention how extraordinary it has been to see the rapid evolution of alternative energy and how no-one could have predicted the drop in prices and the way these technologies are taking hold across the globe.

Amid all the current uncertainties especially the attacks on the environment (see Mickibbens comments above) this is a welcome reminder, a shattering of previous predictions. From 2010 to 2020 solar power prices dropped 90%, wind energy dropped 70% in a similar time frame. Cost of solar is falling to the point where it will be free by 2030. They quote Jenny Chase, the BloombergNEF analyst talking to NYT, “I simply cannot believe where we are with solar - If you had told me 20 years ago what would the case would be now, 20 years later, I would have said you were crazy. I would have laughed in your face. We are genuinely in a revolution”.

Sunrise at Pomo Tierra April Retreat

So on this Earth Day, I celebrate the elements and the generosity of the earth, along with our sometimes innovative and often muddled and at times confusing understanding of these possibilities. I hope in the years to come, we are constantly shattering old paradigms and enjoying the letting go of previous Certainties. As Diana Clark says towards the end of her dharma talk, there is endless possibility in the reframing of our attachment to untrue or outdated stories that we have told ourselves as individuals. Why not on the global scale. Enjoy your cookies whoever they belong to and the sun who belongs to all today!

Wishing you all a sweet and enriching day and spring,

Mary