A Promise

Yoga has the power to connect.
So does music.
So does dance.
So do poetry and the grace of social service.
So too does the loving witness of another
in their reflective presence to your pain and joy.

I have never met a person
who wasn’t holding
a seed of sincerity
in their hand.
Looking for the right place
to plant and grow
into something
they may not yet be able to name.

I’ve witnessed the astonishment
and the horror,
and the laughter,
and the delight,
and the tears of relief
when Yoga
in any of her forms
blossoms like the lotus
from the inner dark places.

If we want the connection,
the union of yoga’s
contemporary promise,
let us enter the place–
the paired down essential heart–
of why we are here in the first place.

Like the myriad of colors
the plants boast and bestow upon us,
so are the paths of the hearts awakening.
We do not judge Violet
for not being Red.

You will know
when the drum beat
is calling your name–
when the seed of your heart
is cracking open
and you are being made
anew.

You will know when the goddess has come for you.
Maybe quiet.
Maybe piercingly loud.
No matter,
you will know.

Because when the drum beats,
and the seed cracks,
and the roots entrench in the mud,
and the lotus blossoms in the full moon light,

You know.

We cannot control awakening or growth.
We can only cultivate healthy soil
and the conditions for yoga
in all her ways
to take
root.

Photo Credits: Jessica Christie Photography