First of all, if you have never seen the photography of Jim Crotty, PLEASE go see it HERE! He is absolutely amazing in his work and also has a deep, spiritual heart. So, I also recommend following his writings in LinkedIn or Facebook. He is an award-winning, published photographer whom I have the honor of calling my friend!
Let’s begin. With that moon in Jim’s photograph. Circular, magnificent, ethereal! I asked permission to use this photo because when I saw it, it really spoke to me. It also seemed to be a beautiful addition to the words we heard from the Sufi Poet, Hafiz, in our classes this week.
“The place you are right now God circled on a map for you.”-Hafiz
He also wrote this poem, to which I will attempt to write it in the form I first saws it:
All the Hemispheres
Leave the familiar for a while.
Let your senses and bodies stretch out
Like a welcomed season
Onto the meadow and shores and hills.
Open up to the Roof.
Make a new watermark on your excitement
And love.
Like a blossoming night flower,
Bestow your vital fragrance of happiness
And giving
Upon our intimate assembly.
Change rooms in your mind for a day.
All the hemispheres in existence
Lie beside an equator
In your heart.
Greet Yourself
In your thousand other forms
As you mount the hidden tide and travel
Back home.
All the hemispheres in heaven
Are sitting around a fire
Chatting
While stitching themselves together
Into the Great Circle in side of
You. -Haifz
Such imagery I receive when I read these words. Such grace and peace I feel. Such freedom and welcomeness I receive. I love when yoga and poetry come together! And so, we embodied circles and hemispheres and the ‘equator in our hearts’! We moved in complete circular flows on our mats and became the Infinite. We used the sacred geometry of our bodies and allowed them to ‘stretch out’. Our movements created a mandala, geometric pattern that represents the cosmos. And where we were became a Mandala, a map representing the temples of our bodies.
May you remember and explore your Self this week in all your hemispheres, geometry, and sacredness. And, no matter what your circumstances in life at this moment, will you allow yourself to feel that God circled this place for you? That you have a right to be here? That you have a purpose on this Earth? Because YOU DO!
Breathe and Believe.