DAILY The world has lost a treasure trove of notable talent recently, and personally, I have lost loved ones of some extraordinary talent. There are many endings to the world we have known opening confluence to large questions: What is disappearing that I have loved? What were qualities in those famous lives that gave them value? Why do I care when I hear they have died? How have I been transformed by those I loved that are now gone? How did they share their wisdom and grace? Poignant endings are opportunity to review: What am I funding that will be missed when I’m gone? What healing can I offer? Am passing on anything of true value? How do I carry and translate the light of those who have gone before?
Confluences create un-expected recognitions. Does it take loss to comprehend what we have, who we are, what we value? The ending of a job, a long distance move, a child leaving home, and the big one, death offer windows to regenerate, reconsider, re-animate, and re-value. Questioning the value of a life is impossible, that of an event or a season, a bit easier. Using Labor Day as a marker to summer’s end I ask: “Did I wander and waste enough time? What of value did I glean from the garden? Have I laughed enough? What about the worth of a single summer’s day? Do I assess 24 hours, by how alive I have been, or how many days I have left? $1000.00 is a crass amount for one exquisite day on earth, and if it’s the last day, a $1000,000.00 doesn’t begin to cover the bill.
Tomorrow, I shall wake and call out, “Show me the ‘Quan!” By sunset, I shall murmer, “I have grown this day by heart. I etched its beauty within. I did invest in love.” I refuse to gallop across it, a Cossack vandal scavenging what was at hand, disavowing its magic. If I sing the Blues, they are going to cost. On whiney two-cent days I’ll remember to add a few zeros asking, “If I were charged for this day, and it was my last, what would I pay? Everything I own. Everything I am.”
Yoga Toolbox of Transformation
Asana: Sanmukhi Mudra or Parangmukhi Mudra (facing inwards) Here we sit and look within to find the source of our being. Sit in Padmasana/Lotus, or simply sit comfortably. Bring the hands to the face, lifting the elbows, placing thumbs over ears. Close the eyes, but turn the focus up, placing index and middle fingers on the lids. Keep equal pressure on ears and eyes. With the tips of the ring fingers press both nostrils, narrowing but not closing nasal passages. Place little fingers on the upper lip to feel the rhythmic breath. Draw your vision(s) inward, and listen to your ‘magical voice.’
Health Notes: Helps calm the mind, reminding the body that answers lie within, not without. We can remind ourselves that no one can set a value upon us unless we do it to ourselves first. Sitting in Sanmukhi is particularly helpful when feeling tossed about by life, out of control, and less than. It assists the beginner to quiet down and it prepares the serious practitioner for the fifth state of Yoga, or Pratyahara, where the effort is to free oneself from desire, and a life ruled by the five senses.
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