Tower

You've all read this Vanity Fair article about Iceland's crash, yes? Here's the tower Michael Lewis refers to. It's glorious, shiny and very very empty...

By the way, Mr. Lewis nails us in many ways, but yes, we do have more than ten or twenty names in circulation here, and no, not too many SUVs have been blown up and sorry, but even the women here can be stubborn and bumbling and inexcusably, unapologetically aggressive when in public.

It's a space thing: Dr. Seuss' Zax anyone? (and the Zax's even agreed to disagree, and not barge into each other sans eye contact, a disturbing local phenomenon for those from more cultured cultures.)

Atlantis

"Beauty is truth, truth beauty," as Keats put it and to be boldly truthful, the resort casino down the beach from the ashram was a daily draw. Great pools and aquariums abounding with local sea life, the overly-manicured landscaping and the immense hotel structures towering over the gentle Paradise Island beaches testified to the human will to tame nature and erect monuments to the gods of engineering and ingenuity.

It was very worthwhile to saunter over for immersion in American family-vacation reality, a big reminder that while daily silence, yoga and meditation are a way of life, humanity in all it's baseness and glory doesn't disappear in the meantime, and that we're all in this life thing together. In other words, those little trips (along with forays into urban, decaying Nassau) proved that Oneness, Service and Compassion are always the order of the day.

All that, and a daily double latte to boot.

Way

Paths wind through the ashram foliage, yours to choose.

Here you are not an accumulation of all you've been, but an unfolding of pure potential at every moment.
 

Doves flow through this compact jungle, cooing the name of Sumer's goddess, Hu.
 

If you step softly you may even hear the soft rustle of a swami's orange robes on a path nearby, or the gentle chanting of students in their morning meditations.



Here you stretch your heart to the sun, on a beach, by the trees...
 

...and meet like-minded souls over shared meals.
 

And, of course, there's always the sea...
 

Paradise

Paradise, originally uploaded by blue eyes.

The dock at another little island in the Atlantic, called Paradise.

Keflavik to New York to Miami to Nassau and onto a small boat and suddenly you're there, at the ashram for a week of sun, kirtan, asanas and silence. Your mind stills, and all the pains of yesterday are washed away in the warm and salty sea.

Kaffi

One of Kaffismiðja Ísland's owners, Sonja Grant, is refilling her grinders with fresh toasty beans, roasted on location in a fantasy-pink coffee roaster at the most cozy café in town. The location is sweet, the coffee amazing and barista Hjörtur makes the perfect drink every time.

Be their guest: stop by, order something warm and inspiring, flip through the selection of classic vinyl, put something on the turntable, have a seat, sigh happily, smile, and enjoy.

Sushi

On Laugavegur, just above the intersection with Skólavörðurstígur, is SushiBarinn, a tiny jewel of the Orient tucked unobtrusively in between a café and the walled off carcass of a house slated for demolition/renovation. It's easy to miss, and looks from the outside as if it would be ridiculously impossible for more than one or two people to sit inside at a time, but appearances deceive. Inside it somehow expands to accommodate, and provides a small bubble of meditative respite from the hustle outside. And the sushi is excellent too.

March

Sunny, snappy, at turns gusty and calm. We're living and loving here, facing our transformation, unsure of our direction but fully aware of our need to change. Old patterns and habits no longer suffice.

Kiddie steps into our future are called for: constant, without hesitation, at times wobbly, but always looking forward with joyous expectancy, adventure, anticipation.