The River, Music, and Shri

Haunting melodies of a liturgical nature, written by Arvo Part, an Estonian, fill my senses, as the sun goes down, on what has been an exquisite day, filled with blissful meditation, a joyful class, and re-connecting with friends...

I begin my walk with "Salve Reginas, " and am transported to sacred time and space by music that is evocative of Byzantine chants, composed in minor keys, dissonance rendered harmonious at times, so captivating, and I lament that I can no longer sight read music, or indeed, read it at all...

I visit the river in the early afternoon, and watch two kayakers launch, with barely any ice visibly clinging to the river banks. I look on longingly, and know that soon, the river and I will enter more profoundly into our dance and dialogue, and in its waters I will unravel more lessons, that now simply await patiently...

I am grateful for my new teacher, and realize that for the first time, in a year and half, I am blossoming in her class, as my body feels better and stronger under her wise guidance. I delight in recalling how she used me in class to demo, and remarked on my embodiment of "shri" - the beauty of the pose, manifested through the engagement of Anusara Yoga's Universal Principles of Alignment...

I am grateful for the many blessings of this week, the incredible session with a talented therapist, the gifts received in my personal spiritual practice, the opportunity to meditate with a group, and the coming Mahasamadhis of not one, but two gurus in my meditation lineage, which I know, will also bestow more blessings...

I marvel at so many opportunities received as I continue to lay the foundation for what is to come in my life, and I think of the scriptural teaching - that to whom much is given, much is also asked - and I know I have experienced both extremes of giving and receiving, totally and completely...The experiences of pain and grief I lived through in the last year or so, are mere drops of water in the eternity of this river...

I am blessed to be at the river, just as I am also blessed to go on an early evening walk, delighting in the anticipation of what is to come, rejoicing in what is, still remembering what was, and fully present in all that is unfolding...

"Man cannot discover new oceans
unless he has the courage
to lose sight of the shore."
- Andre Gide