Hello Fellow Body-Mind-Hearts –

Several folks have shared with me lately (some guiltily and some with awe) the unexpected bonuses they have received during this terrible time we are living through. They have noticed how certain things were moving and settling in such a way to offer certain blessings and possibilities during this time of limitation, loss and confusion. Things they were not aware of at the time.

Blessings…Silver Linings…Gifts…

I, myself, have had this experience. Looking back I can see how my sweethearts unlikely urge to tidy up the garden in the early spring supported us in selling our home in the summer. I notice how my past experience using my voice professionally and my comfort with technology allowed me to shift to this new mode of engaging with clients and students (and family) with more ease than some of my colleagues. I have been able to  continue teaching and stay connected with my long established Seattle area yoga communities although I have moved to another state…something that wouldn’t have happened prior. My friends had no idea the utter sanity that would be evoked when they added a work shed to their small property two years ago. And more and more stories of little and large ways folks have felt supported and blessed.

This could be disconcerting or it could be utterly awe inspiring. I choose the latter as it reminds me that I am an integral part of this larger web of life and the Universe.

A friend of mine describes this as Life Longing for Itself. A tribute to the beautiful words in Kahlil Gibran’s poem, and sung so powerfully by Sweet Honey and The Rock, On Children. It is the notion that life is always seeking ways of expressing its fullness and possibility through us. And it does this often without our express consent or understanding. Sometimes we have to really search for it amongst the destruction and loss.  

So, how can we move and think in such a way as to receive these gifts and honor the life that is coursing through the Universe (Us)?
~ We notice the subtleties, with a soft gaze.
~ We open our awareness, with a soft heart.
~ We cultivate a sense of curiosity and gratitude, with generous presence.
~ We become willing to be part of something larger, with a sense of awe and reverence.

Whatever your loss, desolation and sorrow, can you seek out the little moments of blessings and silver linings and gifts? Not to deny the pain but to make it bearable. Not to shut down the heartache but to allow it to remember the other chambers that can hold hope and beauty and love.

I would love to hear about the little (and large) gifts you have received during this past year. I also welcome your stories of loss and heartache. It is so important to witness each other into being. This is how life finds itself.

May we seek to know the ways we are held by the Universe in subtle and not so subtle ways
May we open to the little and large blessings that reside next to the pain and heartache
May we notice Life Longing for Itself through us and around us and bow quietly to its gifts
May we find ways honor Life everyday with simple and profound moments of presence

Image Credit: Max Foster Photography

Practice Prompts:

• Take a few minutes to sit and consider some of the ways Life has Longed for Itself through you? Are there any ways you can identify that life saw the pain that was to come and in some wild way prepped you? Witness yourself and these acts fo Life by dancing, writing, drawing, etc.
• Take some time to create a gratitude list every day. Whether you do this mentally, speak it out loud or write it down doesn’t matter, but take time to notice the little and larger moments of blessing.
• Tell someone (or many someones) how they bless your life. Be specific. Send them a handwritten card or call them and make a point of letting them know they are a gift you treasure.
• Read the poem below and make your own list of simple gifts you can bow to.
• Schedule an online Resiliency Session with me. Sliding scale available upon request. Come learn some simple and profound ways to move the stress, trauma and pain through your body and discover ways to feel the light and joy that also resides there.

Upcoming Live Streaming Practice Opportunities:

• Yoga Nidra: The Art, Skill and Philosophy of Deep Rest Workshop, Jan 29-31, via online streaming through Seattle Yoga Arts
• Monday 10-11:30am PST All Levels Yoga via online streaming through Seattle Yoga Arts
• Sunday 10-11:30am PST All Levels Yoga via online streaming through Two Dog Yoga Studio
• Yoga Nidra Practice, Sunday, Jan 17, 5:30-7pm PST, via online streaming through Two Dog Yoga
• Full Moon Mandala Practice, Tuesday, Jan 28, 7-8:30pm PST via online streaming through Seattle Yoga Arts
• Continuum Moving Inquiry Playshop, Monday, Feb 8, 6:30-8:30pm PST via online streaming through Body of Insight

Inspirational Wisdom:

An Ode to Silent Poets

You see
the precious gift
of ordinary things
as Pablo Neruda did,
but need no words,
pen or paper,
to bow
to olive oil
to the great night sleep
to the mossy rocks
to the blooming ocotillo
to the perfectly ripe avocado to everyday heroes
to handwritten letters
to spontaneous laughter
to fresh farm eggs
to the smiling stranger
to the desert’s wild owers to the world wide web
to bittersweet moments
to afternoon naps
to grey clouds
to slowing down
to stinging nettles
to soft blankets
to strange dreams
to the garbage man
to the graceful death

The simple gifts
your devotional being sees
as you move through life
lls you with that deep warmth you silently beam out.

And that
is the gift
you are.

~ Tesa Silvestre