Travelers in Time
We are all travelers in time...
This is the thought that comes to me at the river this morning, as I take time to do some brief meditations before returning home to teach...
I do not have the river to myself this morning. Instead, a friendly group of more aged walkers smile, and wish me a good morning. They do not know that I am not a morning person and I do not like to talk that early! Still, I smile back, and and greet them.
There is so much I am thinking about - it would take several entries and volumes of information to download here, so I will mention only a few brief points...
My acupuncturist asked me on Monday, how I was doing with my goals of exercising greater compassion and aiming for more simplicity in my life. She did not know about all the recent events in my yoga community, and so I gave her a brief recap. I am no longer the co-chair of the curriculum committee - so all the work done there came to a grinding halt. For that reason, and a few others, I find myself with more time. So yes, I have greater simplicity and more time to meditate and indulge in all things quotidian. Life has truly showed down now...
These same events, have tested the boundaries and limits of my own compassion in regards to the events in my yoga community. Many times I have striven to be the voice of reason, but at other times, I have found myself buying into discussions where I did not always exhibit my best self... So yes, here too - I have somehow been dancing around with my second goal...
On my walk yesterday, after a dear friend shared her painful life story, a red fox darted in front of me, leaving me rather surprised. As always, I look up the meaning of this animal and find that it is a messenger of the gods, and - directly quoting where I took this information from, I find that a fox has the ability to "guide my steps through this maze of deception and see this problem to its end..." There is much more to this, but the fox also has the ability to make one invisible, which I find especially interesting, because I too, am feeling somewhat lost and invisible at this particular juncture in my life...
I return to lead my students in a twisting sequence to detox, cleanse, and prepare for the change of the seasons, on this first day after the vernal exquinox.
I borrow a page from Sianna Sherman's wonderful workshop at Willow Street Yoga in Maryland this past weekend, and lead my students through various mudras connecting them with the elements and the various aspects they embody - through a cycle beginning with the air element, seeking insight and inspiration, and that continues to journey on to fire - burning the dross and releasing all that does not serve. We continue on to the water element - washing and cleansing - and then end with the earth, where we ground and give intent to establish healthy boundaries...
We all do this, as travelers in time that we are - through every season - year after year. For we are simply travelers, who meet along the way and grace each others' lives.
During savasana I share excerpts of this poem, "For the Traveler," by the Irish poet, John O'Donohue:
"Every time you leave home,
Another road takes you
Into a world you were never in.
New strangers on other paths await.
New places that have never seen you...
When you travel, you find yourself
Alone in a different way.
More attentive now
To the self you bring along.
Your more subtle eye watching...
When you travel,
A new silence
Goes with you,
And if you listen,
You will hear
What your heart would
Love to say.
A journey can become a sacred thing:
Make sure, before you go,
To take the time
To bless your going forth
To free your heart of ballast
So that the compass of your soul
Might direct you toward
The territories of spirit
Where you will discover
More of your hidden life.
And the urgencies
That deserve to claim you.
May you travel in an awakened way,
Gathered wisely into your inner ground;
That you may not waste the invitations
Which wait along the way to transform you.
May you travel safely and refreshed,
And live your time away to its fullest;
Return home more enriched and free
To balance the gift of days which call you."
This is the thought that comes to me at the river this morning, as I take time to do some brief meditations before returning home to teach...
I do not have the river to myself this morning. Instead, a friendly group of more aged walkers smile, and wish me a good morning. They do not know that I am not a morning person and I do not like to talk that early! Still, I smile back, and and greet them.
There is so much I am thinking about - it would take several entries and volumes of information to download here, so I will mention only a few brief points...
My acupuncturist asked me on Monday, how I was doing with my goals of exercising greater compassion and aiming for more simplicity in my life. She did not know about all the recent events in my yoga community, and so I gave her a brief recap. I am no longer the co-chair of the curriculum committee - so all the work done there came to a grinding halt. For that reason, and a few others, I find myself with more time. So yes, I have greater simplicity and more time to meditate and indulge in all things quotidian. Life has truly showed down now...
These same events, have tested the boundaries and limits of my own compassion in regards to the events in my yoga community. Many times I have striven to be the voice of reason, but at other times, I have found myself buying into discussions where I did not always exhibit my best self... So yes, here too - I have somehow been dancing around with my second goal...
On my walk yesterday, after a dear friend shared her painful life story, a red fox darted in front of me, leaving me rather surprised. As always, I look up the meaning of this animal and find that it is a messenger of the gods, and - directly quoting where I took this information from, I find that a fox has the ability to "guide my steps through this maze of deception and see this problem to its end..." There is much more to this, but the fox also has the ability to make one invisible, which I find especially interesting, because I too, am feeling somewhat lost and invisible at this particular juncture in my life...
I return to lead my students in a twisting sequence to detox, cleanse, and prepare for the change of the seasons, on this first day after the vernal exquinox.
I borrow a page from Sianna Sherman's wonderful workshop at Willow Street Yoga in Maryland this past weekend, and lead my students through various mudras connecting them with the elements and the various aspects they embody - through a cycle beginning with the air element, seeking insight and inspiration, and that continues to journey on to fire - burning the dross and releasing all that does not serve. We continue on to the water element - washing and cleansing - and then end with the earth, where we ground and give intent to establish healthy boundaries...
We all do this, as travelers in time that we are - through every season - year after year. For we are simply travelers, who meet along the way and grace each others' lives.
During savasana I share excerpts of this poem, "For the Traveler," by the Irish poet, John O'Donohue:
"Every time you leave home,
Another road takes you
Into a world you were never in.
New strangers on other paths await.
New places that have never seen you...
When you travel, you find yourself
Alone in a different way.
More attentive now
To the self you bring along.
Your more subtle eye watching...
When you travel,
A new silence
Goes with you,
And if you listen,
You will hear
What your heart would
Love to say.
A journey can become a sacred thing:
Make sure, before you go,
To take the time
To bless your going forth
To free your heart of ballast
So that the compass of your soul
Might direct you toward
The territories of spirit
Where you will discover
More of your hidden life.
And the urgencies
That deserve to claim you.
May you travel in an awakened way,
Gathered wisely into your inner ground;
That you may not waste the invitations
Which wait along the way to transform you.
May you travel safely and refreshed,
And live your time away to its fullest;
Return home more enriched and free
To balance the gift of days which call you."
Comments
travelling to South Africa - have you personally been there?
What would you recommend I see? I anticipate seeing a lot more
from you in the near future, so please keep up the wonderful posts!
my web site :: holidays in south africa