Grasping Summer

Summer has barely arrived and already I’m grasping. My eyes cannot take in the rise and fall of life. Blooms fill, fade, and drop away before I’ve had my fix. How to hold the beauty burgeoning from the earth before it surrenders to mulch? Just yesterday colors and scents blazed glory, the owl called twice, now they are lost before full savoring and appreciation. This flagrant abundance deserves greater honor for it is a full circle of life. It is their life, wrapped in their time of existence. Because it is not mine, my existence, my consciousness, is it any less?

When I stare into the luxuriant face of a peony, I feel happy…a gift given without requirement. They do not need me to see their importance, or the significance of their life. Perhaps they are more enlightened than I? Do they fill every ecstatic moment with the bliss of being? Is their short span so full that at their end they droop and surrender willingly? Will I be so willing? Can I be that full of juicy living that I gracefully bow my head, loosen my petals to the wind, and return to mulch? Or will I grasp?

If I am aware of my grasping now, will I learn to let go by then? Do I have only until tomorrow? Is it my job to allow summer to rise and fall, and rise again in its delicious rhythms? Will the cycles of bloom cascading/surrendering teach me nothing? Will my grasping give way to joyous acceptance? If I am present to this hot pink bud presence, that unfurling chartreuse leaf, and every sweet and bitter scent announcing arrival and departure, will I become willing to have my flower-life end when the owl calls my name?

Asana: Uttana Padasana Lie on your back, with legs strongly extended, and together. On the exhale, raise the upper back off the floor, arching until only the buttocks and crown of the head rest on the floor. If this is too much pressure on your neck, bend the elbows and rest some of the pressure on the forearms. For more advanced work, lift the legs about 45 degrees off the floor, and lift the arms, palms together, parallel to the legs. Remain, breathing easily, when you release down, lie still and allow the neck to be soft.

I like this pose because it feels that you can surrender to the earth, then you rise up out of it, blooming fully, as it were. Find a sweet spot on the grass to enjoy this.

Health Notes: Clearly your chest and lungs expand, the neck, legs, and abdominals are strengthened. It offers some stretching to the dorsal spine, and it supports the thyroids by increasing a healthy supply of blood.