Happy May!

The Yoga workshop with Dharma Mittra was incredible. I, and the world around me, have been growing through many positive changes since then, including the birth of two new baby pigeons on my patio! The eggs were there for just over two weeks, in fact, I believe they were laid Easter weekend...which is beautifully symbolic of birth and rebirth. This past Tuesday, I noticed two new baby pigeons had hatched, from the mother and father who sat so diligently, keeping watch over their nest for two weeks, without ever sleeping. (while on duty, at least)...

Anytime I turn my head to the left, from where I sit at my computer, there they are. It's been amazing to watch the babies come into being over the past few days, growing noticeably stronger, even hour to hour. It's also awesome to watch the mother and father feeding them and how cautious and caring they are with their newborns. I feel so blessed to have this experience of getting to watch Mother Nature's miracle firsthand. Of course it's all around us all the time, but how often do we take the time to slow down and notice. Talking to a friend yesterday about this very thing, reminded me of a quote from the movie, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, when Ferris says, at the end:

"Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."

I love that quote. Speaking of that, I've been blessed this week to have a new arrival of my own at my hOMe, with my piano. I've played the piano since I was 4 and this piano has been in my parent's home for 27 years. Like Yoga, playing the piano is a passion of mine. I haven't had it in my space since I moved out after college, and even during college I only got to play it when I went home to my parent's house for Winter and Summer break. And, even then, I was distracted with other things, going out, hanging with friends, and not practicing as much. I haven't been able to spend this much time playing since I was in high school. I would still play when I would go to my parent's house here in Dallas over the past 8 years or so, but even then, I wasn't able to devote the time to deepening my practice because I was there to visit them. So, I would play a little, but I wasn't able to really immerse myself in it.

What inspired me to have my piano moved to my apartment is a dream I had last Friday morning. Actually, I took some time off at the end of last week, as I mentioned in the previous post. On Friday morning, I was resting and lying in bed, in a sort of Savasana state. It was unlike any Savasana dream I had ever experienced, because it felt completely real, so much that it still feels as though it happened on some level. But as I was in Savasana, I had this dream that my piano was at my aparment in the exact place it is in the picture. As the dream continued, it turned into all of my family and my family's friends coming to my apartment for my dad's funeral reception. His longtime friend and business partner of over thirty years, (who actually spoke at his funeral) also came to my apartment. And, at that point, when I saw him in my dream, I came out of Savasana and started crying. I cried because I felt so much love, so much love from him and the love that was between him and my father. And, also so much sadness from missing my dad, but also a deep gratitude for him being in my life. And, I realized at that moment, I needed to have my piano moved to my hOMe. So, last Sunday the movers brought it. My father loved to listen to me play the piano, and it immediately connects me with the most awesome feelings and memories of my dad. It also reminds me of my grandfather, because I played the piano at his funeral when I was 12. He and my grandmother would sit and listen to me play for over an hour, at times, when they would come to visit. Mostly, playing the piano reconnects me with the childlike joy and wonder that I remember feeling as a child, it reconnects me with the positive feeling of the Flow, I was connected to then and am still connected to now. Playing the piano, just like practicing Yoga, helps me to feel the positivity that's flowing within me and all around me. That positivity, or bliss, is natural to who we all are. Yoga teaches our essential nature, is unbounded Consciousness, and this Consciousness is Bliss.

I've also noticed, since practicing this last week, how many similarities there are with playing music and practicing Yoga. I've been noticing how integral the breath is in playing any instrument, to connect deeper to the feeling/vibration of the music to feel it more deeply in the heart. As I've been noticing this, I've remembered that it is our breath which connects us to our heart. This is why we are so in need of Yoga in our present-day world. A student in Yoga class and I were talking about this just the other day. She said her mom and her had attended this talk where the speaker was saying that modern day electronical communication is going to be the death of us. That's a strong way to say it, but really, the toll it is taking on us is significant. All of this electronical communication keeps us in a superficial, cerebral place in our mind, because there is no voice/vibration involved to ground us into our heart chakra, and therefore, we stay distracted and disconnected. How important it is to have a practice of some kind which connects us into our heart. So many people, nowadays, are finding this connection through Yoga, because of their breath. It is reminding us that life is so much more than all of this superficial communication we've been engaging in during more recent years. The real heart of life is in our Union with each other, and, we come to know this Union with each other, as we realize our Union with our own breath/Spirit, Life Force itself.

So, I am grateful that I am taking time to slow down and take a look, at the new family of pigeons on my patio, at the music I love to play, at the incredible people in my life who I'm so blessed to know. I am realizing the truth in the teaching from The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali...one of the obstacles to realizing Yoga definitely is overexertion. Whether it's Ferris Bueller, or The Yoga Sutras, it's wisdom we can all learn from...

Namaste! Read more