Give her an inch and she will take a mile. You know the type; she's pushy like
that.
The universe is always looking for an angle - an in - an opening
into which she can revel in her never-ending dance of recursion. Her variations may be similar but never the
same. And her muse is a melody that is at once thematically familiar,
repetitive, deeply rooted in the past and yet plays on itself in infinitely new
and random ways.
It's with this idea in mind --
variations and their themes -- that I'm (finally) honoring a few
requests to please jot down my "default...go to" opening and closing
for our yoga class. Both have been seeded by
themes that I've gleaned from yoga aficionados far more steeped in these rich
ancient traditions than me and then further refined by my own rather ordinary
experiences. They are interpretations rather than translations, directionally
correct but not exact.
Opening
Om namah shivaya gurave
Sat chit ananda murtaye
Nisprapanchaya shantaya
niralambhaya tejase
May you honor that scintillating essence which chooses to express
itself through you, through your ability to think, to know, to feel, to love...and
simply through all of the things that bring a smile to your face. While this essence
may at times be heavily cloaked or refracted in a myriad of different ways, it
is in fact always present, full of peace and quintessentially free.
Closing
The Buddhists have their prayer for the welfare of all beings and, well, this is mine. With the utmost sincerity, (truly, truly) my wish for each of you
as we are about to take our practice off our mats and back out into the world...
May you keep your connection to grace no matter how tethered,
May you ride her inevitably wild waves of revelation,
concealment, maintenance and destruction with ease,
May you know with certainty that the deepest darkness is matched
by a brilliance inconceivable (tejase),
May you see the simple reminders each day that no part of her
cycle lasts forever, no matter how much you wish at times it does (or does
not),
May you know deep down in the core of your being that you matter, there is great opportunity in whatever time you have been gifted to make a difference, and
May you love your life...love your life, as that changes everything.
May you know deep down in the core of your being that you matter, there is great opportunity in whatever time you have been gifted to make a difference, and
May you love your life...love your life, as that changes everything.
Now...it's your turn.
Accept the open invitation to make meaning from the themes
(bijas.) Take what you've heard in class
(which perhaps is not even what was said) and make it personal. Mix it with your own beliefs and experiences
(sammelana) to keep your yoga relevant in the ever changing here and now.
Similar but not the same. And so it goes. Onward.
To creating your own variations on the theme....
Namaste!
P.S. When writing this post I kept thinking there is a sanskrit
word that gets at the essence of this.
It starts with an s, kind of sounds like that poisoning people get from contact
with raw chicken. Low and behold...I found it. Sammelana. Go figure.
It is the title of Dr. Douglas Brook's blog. His opening post elaborates
so very beautifully on the definition...http://rajanaka.blogspot.com/2008/11/greatest-certainty-is-only-most-certain.html
