blank adj : complete or absolute
blank n : a complete absence of awareness or memory

As I was putting this newsletter together, I endeavored to write something eloquent and poignant to include.    I made several attempts, all of which felt forced.   Nothing was taking form except a fair amount of blankness.   Initially my lack of inspiration was irritating.   I felt uninspired and voiceless.   These feelings spawned doubt, which crept in (just for a second) and I thought,   "What kind of teacher am I?   Creativity can be daunting.   As a painter, I remember numerous hours spent blankly staring at pristine white canvases fighting off an overwhelming sense of urgency to find my voice.   All in all a rather disconcerting experience...or is it?   After overcoming my deer in the headlights neurosis, I began to reflect on the blankness I was feeling.    I came to the conclusion that blankness is much like space.   Space has a liberating quality to it that can create emphasis.   Life tends to get all jumbled together and confused without space.   Look at these words for example, without space they becomesvirtuallyunintelligible.   So instead of trying to fill the blankness and force it to become something,   I tried to relax into it.   I was almost immediately reminded of the tiny little opening, between the inhalation and the exhalation.   There is no action in that space, I mean you are neither inhaling nor exhaling - it's a neutral space or a blank space. The emptiness between the cycles of the breath couldn't be more important.   That little pause or space sets in motion the meter of our life...moment after moment, day after day and year after year.   Suddenly my blankness was feeling significant, even precious and definitely not disconcerting.   Of course the thrilling aspect of emptiness is the potential it holds for what lies ahead...in that next breath.   There is also such freedom in letting go enough to find the spaces between the end of one action and the beginning of another.   O yeah, ashtanga yoga is about finding the "blank" spaces as well.   The asanas act as resting spaces within the rhythmic dance of vinyasa.   The static nature of the postures, give the mind/body space to open into.   Perhaps being blank isn't such a terrible thing.   In fact maybe blankness is even a desirable quality.    In closing, as Rumi so often entreats, become a lover and allow duty to be transformed into inspiration...in those spaces practice is transformed into vivid wind song gently propelling you onward.