Published on Feb. 5th, 2024

Transforming the Mundane into The Magical with words & thoughts.

No Filter Evening Sky.

𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 90 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐬.... 𝐈𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠....

A small tranformative instant. A complete transporting of body, mind, and spirit.

𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐬, 𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜, 𝐚 𝐠𝐢𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐤𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐠𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐞. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐰𝐬 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐨𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐜𝐮𝐬 𝐬𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐈𝐨𝐰𝐚, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐝 "𝐈𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠", 𝐚 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐞𝐱𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞, 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐭s and refugees 𝐝𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐈.𝐂.𝐄 𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐝𝐲 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐦, 𝐧𝐞𝐠𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐞𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧.....

𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐞𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐚 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐞 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐀𝐰𝐞. 𝐌𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐦𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐞, 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲. 𝐍𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐬𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬, 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐮𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐬. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐤𝐞𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐲 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐧. 𝐎𝐩𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐞𝐞.

This instant was all encompassing. A total integration of my entire being. My jaw unhinged in absolute absorbtion, the core of my physical body sucking in a deep breathe through my mouth. The vision, of gaseous movement, winded, and lit by refractions and reflections of a setting sun swirled inside of me and emitted, beamed out of me. I tasted the pink impermanence on my tongue, and before I could fathom it, it was gone. Mutated into ever darkening creases and folds of night.

I mused on my capacity to be enraptured, and subsequently name what this fraction of my day represented. The seventh limb of Yoga describes this perfect moment of contemplation as Dhyana. The concept holds that when one focuses their mind in concentration on an object the mind is transformed into the shape of the object. Hence, when one focuses on the divine they become more reflective of it and they know their true nature.

The Sage Patanjali, who lived around 400 BC, is said to have formulated the sutras, verses, that were to become the Eight Limbs of Yoga. Modern Yoga studios in all their iterations owe their existence to the forging of this spiritual way of living that the Sage himself characterized as 'the elimination of mental fluctuations'. He was scientific, logical, economic, and cryptic in his elucidation of his method of physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, and psychic discipline and transformation. Many commentators have written about the meanings hidden within the verses of the Yoga Sutras, volumes have been written. Swami Satyananda Saraswati interprets Dhyana as "an uninterrupted stream of the content of consciousness" He continues, writing that "Dhyana includes two things: one, an unbroken continuous flow of consciousnessof the single object, and two, the awareness of dhyana; that is, awareness that you are practicing unbroken concentration."

When I began practicing Yoga Asana, postures, at the age of 18, staying and studying in local ashrams, I looked upon the eight limbed path as an experience reserved for practitioners more worthy, seasoned, accomplished. My self esteem was low, I studied and practiced to "attain" something, to better myself, to wring out the mental chatter in rigorous asana so my mind could think of nothing else but the drop of sweat clinging to the tip of my nose, of maintaining balance, or remembering to inhale deeply. Then I could sit in Dharana, meditation.

Fast forward 28 years, and I've learnt to build my spiritual self esteem by practicing gratitude as a verb; writing gratitude lists, and tenaciously seeking out the positive, the joyous, the ridiculous, the whimsical. My asana practice looks very different than it did when I was a teenager, or in my twenties. I look upon myself as a student, and my body as my teacher. I do engage in rigorous practice, but the foundation of my movement is grounded in listening, and tending to areas that have the experience of pain, stiffness, inflammation.

I chose to name my experience yesterday at sunset as one of Dhyana. BKS Iyengar, yoga teacher and guru captures my moment entirely,

"... body, breath, senses, mind, reason and ego are all integrated in the object of his contemplation – the Universal Spirit." I was the gaseous clouds, the pillowing pink hues, the muted light, the faint wind. For that sliver of time, I encountered Dhyana, off the cushion, without intention, and the mundane was transformed into magical.